Hijacking Thwarted Aboard Flight to Cairo

Security guards thwarted an attempted hijacking Wednesday on an EgyptAir flight from Istanbul to Cairo.

A Sudanese man used a knife from the in-flight meal to threaten crew members and demanded that the flight be diverted to Jerusalem, the official said. Guards on the flight were able to detain the man and no one was hurt, he said.

An attempted hijacking by a man wielding a knife from an in-flight meal has been thwarted by guards, EgyptAir officials said. The incident happened shortly after the plane, carrying almost 90 people, took off from Istanbul, Turkey, heading to Cairo. The Sudanese man threatened crew members and demanded that the flight be diverted to Jerusalem, officials said.

He was detained by air marshals, and the flight landed in Cairo.

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Bin Laden Warns Americans To Be Prepared For Consequences

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden warned Americans “to be prepared to receive the consequences of the Obama and Bush administrations.” In a new recorded audiotape aired by Arabic Al Jazeera TV Wednesday, June 3 – as Saudi king Abdullah greeted US president Barack Obama on his arrival in Riyadh – bin Laden said Obama had planted the seeds for “revenge and hatred” toward the United States in the Muslim world.

The warning was issued the day before the US president was to deliver a speech to Muslims from Cairo.

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Zawahiri To Obama:You Are Not Welcome in Egypt

Al Qaeda No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri said in a new audiotape today that President Obama is not welcome in Egypt. Commenting on Obama’s upcoming visit to Cairo, Zawahiri said that President Obama’s message to the Muslim World has already been delivered.

“Obama’s message to the Muslim World was delivered when he visited the Wailing wall, with the Jewish skullcap on his head…when he performed the Jewish prayers despite claiming that he is Christian,” Zawahiri said, reminding his audience of Obama’s pledge before the AIPAC conference to make Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel.

The al Qaeda deputy chief accused Obama of approving the “Zionist aggression on Gaza,” of sending more troops to Afghanistan and continuing to bomb tribal areas of Pakistan, and of leading the “brutal campaign” against Muslims in the Swat valley. He said the Obama administration’s message to the Muslim world can be seen in the continued use of secret prisons and the breach of the Geneva conventions regarding terror detainees.

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Egyptian Forces In Sinai On High Alert For Hezbollah Terror

Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula have been put on high alert in recent days following the arrest of a Hezbollah spy network operating on Egyptian soil, reported the Cairo-based Egyptian newspaper Almasry Alyoum. Egyptian officials fear other Hezbollah-linked activists are still at large and operating in Sinai, and may try to carry out terrorist attacks on Egyptian territory.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak commented on the arrests for the first time during a telephone conversation with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora yesterday, telling the pro-Western politician that Egypt will not allow foreign factions to undermine its sovereignty. He added that the Egyptian justice system will deal with the groups that Hezbollah ran inside Egypt.

The verbal blows and counterattacks between Egypt and Hezbollah escalated yesterday, with the al-Gomhouria newspaper calling Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, a “monkey sheikh” in its main editorial. The editorial, written by editor Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, covered the front page and carried the headline “A criminal who knows no repentance” over a picture of Nasrallah. “I say to you what every Egyptian knows, that you are an Iranian party,” Ibrahim wrote. “Are there instructions from Iran to drag Egypt into a conflict?”

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Official Says Bombers Targeted Children On School Trip In Cairo

Bombers targeted a French school trip to Cairo when they attacked a popular tourist site in which a 17-year-old French girl died, officials said.

Egyptian police arrested three people after Sunday’s bomb attack at the Khan al-Khalili market near the Hussein mosque, The Times of London reported Monday. The 20-plus wounded included 17 other French teens, a German, and several Saudis and Egyptians.

“Three people there were arrested on the site as suspects after the attack,” a police official said. “Others are being questioned as witnesses.”

An unexploded bomb was found nearby the blast site. Police detonated the second device safely

The teenagers were part of a group of 54 teenage students from Paris on a last-minute visit to the bazaar before heading home. The group returned from Cairo to Paris Monday, the British newspaper said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon denounced the incident.

“The government condemns with the greatest firmness this criminal act of blind and absurd violence,” Fillon said. “More than ever, France stands beside the Egyptian Republic as it faces this test and fights against terrorism.”

Police blocked off the area, full of cafes and souvenir stands, and used bomb-detecting dogs to find the second device.

Witnesses told The Times one of the bombs appeared to have been thrown from a passing motorbike, while others said that the devices were tossed from a nearby rooftop.

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Osama Bin Ladens Son Seeks Asylum In Spain

Update: Asylum was refused.

A son of Osama bin Laden who grabbed headlines by marrying a British woman last year has flown to Spain and requested asylum, the Spanish government said Tuesday.

Omar Osama bin Laden, 27, is a metals trader who had been living in Cairo, Egypt with his wife. He has not renounced his father, but has said he wants to be an “ambassador for peace” between the Muslim world and the West.

His wife said, however, that he was denied a British residency request this year after officials there said he had demonstrated continuing loyalty to his father.

Omar Osama bin Laden — one of the al-Qaida leader’s 19 children — arrived in Madrid Monday on a flight from Cairo to Casablanca, Morocco, an Interior Ministry official said.

He had been traveling on a Saudi passport, and remained at the airport Tuesday while the ministry considered his request for Spanish asylum, the official said on condition of anonymity in line with ministry policy.

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