- The man who allegedly tried to hijack a flight to Israel attacked his fellow pilot with an axe, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed.
- It remains unclear how the pilot gained access to a weapon. Some analysts have suggested it may have been the emergency axe kept in the cockpit in case of emergency.
- Mr Netanyahu also claimed that the alleged offending co-pilot had undergone ‘radical Islamist indoctrination’ and was ‘suicidal’.
- Mr Netanyahu said: “As (the plane) approached Israel, one of the co-pilots stabbed or hit with an axe the other pilot, an Indian pilot,” the Israeli premier told CBS News on Wednesday, hours after the attack.
- He added: “The pilot that was hit, bleeding profusely, fighting for his life, managed to unlock the pilot's door,” he said, hailing captain Smit Machchhar, who was seriously injured in the attack, as a hero.
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