September 21, 2003	Sunday	Rajab 23, 1424

NEW DELHI, Sept 20: Commandos on Saturday ringed an airplane at the New Delhi airport they thought was being hijacked, only to find it was a false alarm meant to test their alertness, officials said.

The aircraft of state-owned Alliance Air was carrying 127 passengers from central India to New Delhi when the pilot flashed a hijack alert to air traffic control in the Indian capital.

Commandos surrounded the aircraft but then were told it was only an exercise, the second false alarm in as many months.

“We carried out the drill to check the alertness of security forces,” Civil Aviation Secretary K. Roy Pal was quoted as saying.

On Aug 20, troops surrounded a plane at New Delhi’s airport that was about to leave for occupied Kashmir after the pilot falsely alerted that the flight was being hijacked.—AFP