Turkish court charges plane hijackers - agency

ISTANBUL, Aug 23 (Reuters) A Turkish court has charged two men with hijacking after they sought to seize control of a plane heading for Istanbul from northern Cyprus at the weekend, state-run Anatolian news agency said today.

The two hijackers surrendered and released their hostages after forcing the Atlas Jet plane to land in southern Turkey on Saturday. They had said they had a bomb, which turned out to be modelling clay with wires attached.

Late yesterday, a court in the southern resort city of Antalya charged the men with ''hijacking a plane, membership in an armed terror group and threatening people's freedom'' and sent them to an Antalya prison to await trial, the agency said.

Officials said the pair had demanded to be taken to Tehran and media reports have said one of the men was trained in camps run by al Qaeda militants and planned to flee to Afghanistan.

The two have been identified as a Turkish man and an Egyptian born in Cairo in 1974.

The plane was hijacked as it brought 136 passengers from northern Cyprus -- a destination popular with Turkish and foreign tourists -- to Istanbul.

Most passengers were quickly released or escaped through emergency exits but six crew and passengers were held hostage until the hijackers surrendered about five hours after forcing the plane to land.

Hijackings are not uncommon in Turkey, where a number of radical groups ranging from Kurdish separatists to far-left militants operate.

REUTERS AM KP1454