Indian Airlines Flight 814

Indian Airlines Flight 814, commonly known as IC 814, was an <a href="/facts/Indian_Airlines/qeGws2As">Indian Airlines</a> <a href="/facts/Airbus_A300/cw7K15B3">Airbus A300</a> that was <a href="/facts/Aircraft_hijacking/2dhtwYMJ">hijacked</a> on 24 December 1999 by five members of <a href="/facts/Harkat-ul-Mujahideen/4tzsflHy">Harkat-ul-Mujahideen</a>. The passenger flight, en route from <a href="/facts/Tribhuvan_International_Airport/zLnavvqK">Kathmandu</a> to <a href="/facts/Indira_Gandhi_International_Airport/uHFUR3cH">Delhi</a>, was taken over shortly after it entered Indian airspace at about 16:53 <a href="/facts/Indian_Standard_Time/K8wy1APK">IST</a>. The aircraft carried 190 occupants — 179 passengers and 11 crew members including <a href="/facts/Pilot_in_command/v8rlbxqA">Captain</a> Devi Sharan, <a href="/facts/First_officer_(aviation)/Wb1c585d">First Officer</a> Rajinder Kumar, and <a href="/facts/Flight_engineer/HYehAM51">Flight Engineer</a> Anil Kumar Jaggia.
The aircraft was flown to <a href="/facts/Amritsar_airport/uaNFeHC8">Amritsar</a>, <a href="/facts/Lahore_Airport/EK4rPgKJ">Lahore</a>, and <a href="/facts/Al_Minhad_Air_Base/fXPHDYXl">Dubai</a>. While in Dubai, the hijackers released 27 passengers plus the body of a male hostage who had been stabbed by the hijackers multiple times. Later, on 25 December, the hijackers forced the aircraft to land in <a href="/facts/Kandahar_airport/IAqTgerS">Kandahar</a> in <a href="/facts/Islamic_Emirate_of_Afghanistan_(1996%25E2%2580%25932001)/gtud8bFE">Afghanistan</a>. At the time, most of Afghanistan, including the Kandahar airport, was under the control of the <a href="/facts/Taliban/VJC0WJlq">Taliban</a>. External intervention was hindered by Taliban men encircling the aircraft, and by the presence of two officers from the <a href="/facts/Inter-Services_Intelligence/fvkwo04J">Inter-Services Intelligence</a> of Pakistan.
On 27 December after two days of internal discussions, the <a href="/facts/Indian_Government/BIpETqjv">Indian Government</a> sent a team of negotiators headed by Vivek Katju from the <a href="/facts/Ministry_of_Home_Affairs_(India)/UBm79XDH">Ministry of Home Affairs</a>, which also included officials <a href="/facts/Ajit_Doval/hADh61D1">Ajit Doval</a> and <a href="/facts/C.D._Sahay/TpwXlzcy">C.D. Sahay</a>. The motive for the hijacking was to secure the release of various prisoners held under terrorism charges in India. The hijacking is seen as a part of the <a href="/facts/2000_millennium_attack_plots/frqeQmo5">millennium attack plots</a> in late 1999 and early 2000 by <a href="/facts/Al-Qaeda/CIQSk3D7">Al-Qaeda</a> linked terrorists. After days of negotiations, India agreed to release three men it had imprisoned for terrorism – <a href="/facts/Ahmed_Omar_Saeed_Sheikh/c4FuI3K8">Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh</a>, <a href="/facts/Masood_Azhar/zkbfHmeG">Masood Azhar</a> and <a href="/facts/Mushtaq_Ahmed_Zargar/PrLA1Kab">Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar</a> – in exchange for the hostages.
The hostage crisis ended on 31 December when the passengers and crew were released after the Indian government handed the three prisoners over to the Taliban. Despite Indian expectations that the three former prisoners and the hijackers would be arrested, the men were driven to the Pakistan border and released, and they have since been suspected of involvement in other terrorism-related incidents such as the <a href="/facts/2001_Indian_Parliament_attack/XA0KreS4">2001 Indian Parliament attack</a>, 2002 kidnapping and murder of <a href="/facts/Daniel_Pearl/KuKkFF0j">Daniel Pearl</a>, <a href="/facts/2016_Pathankot_attack/YymwCn14">2016 Pathankot attack</a> and the <a href="/facts/2019_Pulwama_attack/6rmG0NPD">2019 Pulwama attack</a>. India's <a href="/facts/Central_Bureau_of_Investigation/DSmBhsxm">Central Bureau of Investigation</a> (CBI) charged ten people in relation to the case (with whereabouts unknown for seven including the five hijackers), of whom only two were convicted and sentenced to <a href="/facts/Life_imprisonment/IMr3MIwe">life imprisonment</a>.

Indian Airlines Flight 814 open-in-new

Indian Airlines Flight 814