Wednesday, January 5 7:00 AM SGT

Tehran says hijackers of Indian plane are not in Iran

TEHRAN, Jan 4 (AFP) - The hijackers who seized an Indian Airlines plane in Nepal last month and took it to Afghanistan are not in Iran, a top foreign ministry official said Tuesday.

"Rumours about the presence of the hijackers in Iran are only trying to deceive the public," said ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

He did not elaborate about the rumours.

India has accused Pakistan of harbouring the hijackers, a charge Islamabad has repeatedly denied.

The eight-day hijack drama, which began when five men seized the airliner during a Christmas Eve flight from Nepal to New Delhi, ended on Friday at Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan.

India released three pro-Kashmir militants in exchange for 160 hostages and the hijackers disappeared from Kandahar.

Iran condemned the hijack from the beginning, and said it would not allow the plane to enter its airspace.