Taliban Say Hijackers Not in Afghanistan

04:25 a.m. Jan 01, 2000 Eastern

By Tahir Ikram

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban said on Saturday the five hijackers of an Indian plane and three freed militants had left the country, but it did not know their whereabouts, a Pakistan-based Afghan news service reported.

``Those people (hijackers and militants) are no more in Afghanistan,'' a Taliban official told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) from the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, but gave no other details.

``We do not know where they (hijackers) are currently,'' the Taliban official added.

There was nothing to confirm diplomatic speculation that the group had somehow crossed into Pakistan, a base for a variety of Kashmiri militants groups fighting Indian forces in the disputed Himalayan region.

Another Taliban official said a guard, who had accompanied the hijackers when they left the Kandahar airport on Friday evening, had returned, but gave no further details.

The five hijackers and the three Muslim militants, who were released by India in exchange for 154 hostages on Friday, were given 10 hours to leave Afghanistan.

Their whereabouts are still a mystery but diplomats in Islamabad thought the hijackers could be headed toward the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir.

AIP said it had received reports that the Pakistani authorities had tightened security at the border crossings with Afghanistan.

No immediate comment was available from Pakistan but on Friday a spokesman of the military-led government, Brigadier Rashid Qureshi, doubted the group was on its way to Pakistan and said the authorities should be able to stop them.

Afghanistan borders six countries -- Pakistan, Iran, China, Tajikstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

The crossing to Pakistan is about a five-hour drive from Kandahar and the Iranian border is about 12-14 hours away.

But routes to the other neighboring countries cross areas where the anti-Taliban forces are either fighting the Islamic movement or are in control.

In New Delhi an Indian Internet channel Rediff-on-the-Net said on Saturday the hijackers of the Indian Airlines Airbus A-300 were probably heading for Pakistan.

``They (the hijackers) have started their journey under the monitoring of our people (the Taliban). Ultimately, their destination would be Pakistan,'' Rediff quoted Hakim Abdul Mujahid, Taliban representative in the United States, as saying.

``It is not exactly known where they are headed, but since no other country wants them, the only guess is that they are headed toward Pakistan,'' the channel quoted Mujahid as saying.

The Indian plane was hijacked on December 24 on its way to New Delhi from Nepal. In the eight day saga the aircraft stopped at Amritsar in India, Lahore in Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and finally in Kandahar where the drama ended on Friday.