Suicide bomber hijacks Egypt air plane to Cyprus

An Egypt Air plane with 60 people on board was on Tuesday morning hijacked on the Alexandria-Cairo flight to Larnaka in Cyprus, airline and Cypriot officials said. The officials said they believed there was a human bomb on board. The Egypt Aviation Authority said the MS 181 Airbus had 55 passengers on board apart from five crew members. There was stated to be at least one hijacker on board. He had asked the pilot that the plane be landed in Cyprus. Early reports said there were 80 people on board. Egyptian reports said that the hijacker had told the pilot that he was wearing an explosive belt. In October last, a Russian passenger plane was brought down on Sinai in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. Globally, airports have been on a high alert since last week's bomb explosions at Brussels airport.