The two Palestinian terrorists who hijacked a British Airways VC-10 yesterday and destroyed it by fire said their act was to punish Britain for sending aid to Israel during the Oct. war. They threatened that more attacks on British and American aircraft would follow. The hijackers, who identified themselves as Abu Zaid and Abu Ali, made these statements over the airliner’s radio system while in contact with the Schiphol Airport control tower.
A passenger said a Jordanian passenger told him that one of the hijackers told him in Arabic “that they were doing this to punish the British for sending British mercenaries to the war in Israel.” The hijackers have been undergoing interrogation by the Dutch authorities all day apparently without much result in a place which has been kept secret. Dutch authorities are said to fear new Palestinian attacks on the Netherlands or on Dutch Royal Airline (KLM) aircraft to force the release of the two hijackers.
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