Two Cuban soldiers arrested in plane hijack

HAVANA, May 3 (Reuters) Two Cuban army recruits tried to hijack a passenger plane to escape to the United States early today but were arrested after killing a hostage on board the plane, the government said.

The soldiers hijacked a bus with passengers, took it to Havana airport and seized an empty passenger plane. They killed one of the hostages, an unarmed army lieutenant colonel, on the plane before being captured by security forces, it said.

Armed hijackings are rare in Cuba. In March 2003, two domestic passenger planes were hijacked to Key West, Florida. A month later, three men who hijacked a Havana Bay ferry in a bid to cross the Florida Straits were executed by firing squad.

REUTERS PBB BST0352