STANDOFF ON TARMACMP Hadi al-Saghir told Reuters that Abdusalem Mrabit, a fellow member of Libya's House of Representatives on the plane, had told him the two hijackers were in their mid-20s and were from the Tebu ethnic group in southern Libya. Troops were positioned a few hundred meters from the plane as it stood on the tarmac. Several other flights at the airport were cancelled or diverted.After the standoff ended peacefully, Muscat told a news conference there had been talks between Maltese authorities and the Libyan hijackers."We were not willing to negotiate until there was a surrender," he said. The men had been carrying a grenade and two pistols and asked for two Maltese negotiators to board the aircraft, but this was rejected."There has been no request for asylum by the hijackers," Muscat said.A senior Libyan security official told Reuters that when the plane was still in flight on Friday morning the pilot told the control tower at Tripoli's Mitiga airport it had been hijacked."Then they lost communication with him," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The pilot tried very hard to have them land at the correct destination but they refused."The aircraft had been flying from Sebha in southwest Libya to Tripoli for state-owned Afriqiyah Airways, a trip that would usually take a little over two hours.The government of Malta said Prime Minister Muscat had discussed the hijack with Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj by phone.The last major hijacking on the island was in 1985, when Palestinians took over an Egyptair plane. Egyptian commandos stormed the aircraft and dozens of people were killed.המטוס הלובי החטוף חונה כעת בנמל התעופה של מלטה. כוחות צבא ומשטרה מקיפים אותו. בפנים שני חוטפים שמאיימים לפוצץ אותו. pic.twitter.com/EBkQEZekGX
— Eran Cicurel (@EranCicurel) December 23, 2016
Updates to follow.Informed of potential hijack situation of a #Libya internal flight diverted to #Malta. Security and emergency operations standing by -JM
— Joseph Muscat (@JosephMuscat_JM) December 23, 2016