Co-pilot planning ‘terror’ — probers

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — UAE investigators have said the co-pilot of a flydubai flight to Israel this week was planning a “terrorist act” and used the cockpit’s emergency axe to attack the captain, but they did not reveal his motive.

Initial findings from the UAE’s investigation into the attack also did not confirm his nationality, according to a report Saturday from the country’s state news agency WAM, but a Saudi source has confirmed to Agence France-Presse that he was Omani.

Media reports have also said he had been barred from flying in his home nation over concerns about extremist views.

The reports came as the first flight carrying Israelis home from the UAE landed in Tel Aviv after services were suspended following the attack, according to Israel’s airport authority website.

“The co-pilot had attempted to carry out a terrorist act” and had “attacked the captain in the cockpit with the emergency axe and tried to take control of the aircraft,” WAM quoted UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi as saying, referring to initial findings of an investigation.

The co-pilot is still in custody in the UAE. Multiple media outlets overnight identified him as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami and said he had been banned from flying in Oman over concerns about his extremist views.

During the flydubai flight, the plane’s Indian captain was assaulted by the co-pilot but the captain managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the attacker and force an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

Passengers described rushing the cockpit and a fight for control after the plane plummeted — losing around 17,000 feet of altitude in the span of a minute, according to the Flightradar24 website.

‘Radical indoctrination’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the suspect had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination” and had attempted to crash the plane.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Omani authorities had banned the pilot from flying over concerns he had adopted radical ideological views, citing people familiar with the matter.

CNN, citing two sources familiar with the matter, reported the pilot was removed from a job at Oman’s national airline last year over concerns about extremist views.

Al Arabiya, citing an informed source, also reported that Omani authorities determined that the co-pilot held extremist views.

The broadcaster said he had spent time in Syria, raising concerns he may have been influenced by radical groups there.

ABC News, citing senior intelligence and law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation, reported the suspect had allegedly been found in possession of extremist materials while he was a trainee.

US President Donald Trump warned on Thursday that if Iran was found to be linked to the attack the country would be “hit very hard.”

Netanyahu has said Israel would check how he had been cleared to work on flights to the country.

“We have constraints that say that you can’t have pilots from countries that don’t have diplomatic relations with Israel. Obviously he was able to go through that,” Netanyahu told Fox News.