Saturday, January 1 7:12 PM SGT

Hijacked Indian plane returns to New Delhi

NEW DELHI, Jan 1 (AFP) - A hijacked Indian Airlines plane returned to New Delhi on Saturday from southern Afghanistan, where its engines had been kept running almost non-stop after Muslim militants seized the flight on Christmas eve.

Airport officials said the Airbus A300 touched down at New Delhi shortly after noon.

The plane could not be flown out after the hijacking drama ended Friday -- with India releasing three jailed militants in exchange for 155 hostages -- due to a malfunction in the auxiliary power unit (APU).

The APU was kept running for most of the eight-day drama to provide heating in the plane amid Kandahar's freezing night-time temperatures. It was briefly switched off twice due to failure but repaired.

"The repair work was completed last night itself and it took off from Kandahar at 1030 (0500 GMT) hours commandered by Captain J.R.D.Rao," an official source told the Press Trust of India.

"The hijacked craft could not start last night as heavy fog had enveloped Delhi and it had to wait till the morning for it to clear," he said.

Aviation engineers, who arrived in Kandahar on December 27 along with an Indian negotiating team, repaired the plane and certified late last Friday that it was airworthy.

The hijackers forced the pilot to fly to northern India, Pakistan and Dubai before taking it to Kandahar.