Turkish Airlines hijack: Three suspects cleared

ROME: Three passengers on the Turkish Airlines plane hijacked to Italy have been cleared of suspicion that they were the hijacker's accomplices, Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said on Wednesday.

"Attention notably focused on three young Turks, but they don't appear to have been linked to the hijacker and all of them departed this morning," Amato said.

"Shortly after hijacker Hasan Ekinci surrendered after a two-hour standoff at Italy's Brindisi airport yesterday, the police asked the passengers to stay in their seats on the plane to try to find out if there was an accomplice among them," Amato told a special Senate session.

His deputy Marco Minniti early on Wednesday had told parliament that three of the passengers were under suspicion.

"Investigators are paying particular attention to three young passengers of Turkish nationality who gave the impression of knowing the hijacker, according to other passengers," he said.

Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler, speaking on Wednesday after the standoff ended, said that the 28-year-old Ekinci seemed to have acted alone, apparently convincing the pilot that he had accomplices on board.

Ekinci is reportedly a convert to Christianity and a conscientious objector who wrote to the pope in late August seeking his help in avoiding military service, which is obligatory in Turkey.