Indian Airlines Flight 814

Indian Airlines Flight 814 ( call sign IC-814) was an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 en route from Tribhuvan International Airport ( Kathmandu , Nepal ) to Indira Gandhi International Airport ( Delhi , India ) when it was hijacked by five Pakistani nationals on 24 December 1999. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen , a Pakistan-based terrorist group, was held responsible for the hijacking. The aircraft was hijacked by armed gunmen shortly after it entered Indian airspace at about 17:30 hours IST . After touching down in Amritsar , Lahore and Dubai , the hijackers forced the aircraft to land in Kandahar , Afghanistan . The hijackers released 27 of 176 passengers in Dubai but fatally stabbed one and wounded several others. India's lack of recognition of the Taliban -regime in Afghanistan complicated negotiations between Indian authorities and the hijackers. Taliban moved its well-armed fighters near the hijacked aircraft in an attempt to prevent Indian special forces from storming the aircraft. The hijacking lasted for seven days and ended after India released three Islamic militants — Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar , Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (who was later arrested for the murder of Daniel Pearl ) and Maulana Masood Azhar (who later founded Jaish-e-Mohammed ). Indian and U.S. intelligence agencies reported of credible links between the hijackers, the al-Qaida and the Taliban. The five hijackers and the three released militants were provided a safe passage by the Taliban. The dubious role played by the Taliban was widely condemned and led to further deterioration of relations between India and the Taliban.

Indian Airlines Flight 814 commonly known as IC 814 was an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 en route from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu , Nepal to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi , India on Friday, 24 December 1999, when it was hijacked . Harkat-ul-Mujahideen , a Pakistan-based Islamic extremist group, was accused of the hijacking. The aircraft was hijacked by terrorists shortly after it entered Indian airspace at about 17:30 IST . Hijackers ordered the aircraft to be flown to several locations. After touching down in Amritsar , Lahore and Dubai , the hijackers finally forced the aircraft to land in Kandahar , Afghanistan , which at the time was controlled by the Taliban . The hijackers released 27 of 176 passengers in Dubai but fatally stabbed one and wounded several others. At that time most of Afghanistan, including Kandahar where the plane landed, was under Taliban control, who resisted allowing the plane to land there. After eventually granting the plane landing rights, the Taliban still pressured the hijackers to release the hostages and give up on some of their demands. Taliban fighters surrounded the aircraft to prevent any Indian military intervention. The motive for the hijacking appears to have been to secure the release of Islamist figures held in prison in India. The hostage crisis lasted for seven days and ended after India agreed to release three militants – Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar , Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Maulana Masood Azhar . These militants have since been implicated in other terrorist actions, such as 9/11 , the kidnap and murder of Daniel Pearl and Mumbai terror attacks.

1999 aircraft hijacking Indian Airlines Flight 814 , commonly known as IC 814 , was an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 en route from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu , Nepal to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi , India on Friday, 24 December 1999, when it was hijacked and flown to several locations before landing in Kandahar , Afghanistan . Harkat-ul-Mujahideen was accused of the hijacking with the support and active assistance from ISI . The aircraft was piloted by 37-year-old Captain Devi Sharan and first officer Rajinder Kumar, with 58-year-old Flight Engineer Anil Kumar Jaggia. The Airbus was hijacked by 5 masked gunmen shortly after it entered Indian airspace at about 17:30 IST . Hijackers ordered the aircraft to be flown to several locations. After touching down in Amritsar , Lahore , and Dubai , the hijackers finally forced the aircraft to land in Kandahar , Afghanistan , which at the time was controlled by the Taliban . The hijackers released 27 of 176 passengers in Dubai but fatally stabbed one and wounded several others. At that time, most of Afghanistan, including Kandahar airport where the hijacked plane landed, was under Taliban control. Initially it was thought that Taliban was on the Indian side but later it became apparent that they are working in collaboration with ISI . Taliban militiamen fighters encircled the aircraft to prevent any Indian military intervention, which was found by current National Security Advisor Ajit Doval when he landed there and they also found two ISI men were on the apron and others soon joined them in which one was a lieutenant colonel and the other a major. Doval said that if the Taliban hijackers did not have ISI support, India could have resolved the crisis. The motive for the hijacking appears to have been to secure the release of Islamist figures held in prison in India. The hostage crisis lasted for seven days and ended after India agreed to release three militants – Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar , Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh , and Mulana Masood Azhar . These militants have since been implicated in other terrorist actions, such as the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl , 2008 Mumbai terror attacks . The hijacking has been seen as one of the millennium attack plots in late December 1999 and early January 2000 by al-Qaeda-linked jihadists. "India wanted to raid IC-814 in Dubai, but Farooq Abdullah opposed swap, says former RAW chief AS Dulat" .

1999 aircraft hijacking Indian Airlines Flight 814 , commonly known as IC 814 , was an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 en route from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu , Nepal , to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi , India , on Friday, 24 December 1999, when it was hijacked and flown to several locations before landing in Kandahar , Afghanistan. The aircraft was piloted by 37-year-old Captain Devi Sharan and first officer Rajinder Kumar, with 58-year-old flight engineer Anil Kumar Jaggia. The Airbus was hijacked by five masked Pakistani militants of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) shortly after it entered Indian airspace at about 17:30 IST . The hijackers ordered the aircraft to be flown to a series of locations: Amritsar , Lahore , and across the Persian Gulf to Dubai . The hijackers finally forced the aircraft to land in Kandahar , Afghanistan , which at the time was controlled by the Taliban . The hijackers released 27 of 176 passengers in Dubai but fatally stabbed one and wounded several others. At that time, most of Afghanistan, including the Kandahar airport where the hijacked plane landed, was under Taliban control. Taliban militiamen fighters encircled the aircraft to prevent any Indian military intervention, which was found by current National Security Advisor Ajit Doval when he landed there. They also found two Inter-Services Intelligence (Pakistan) officers were on the apron and others soon joined them; one was a lieutenant colonel and the other a major. Doval said that if the hijackers did not have ISI support, India could have resolved the crisis. The motive for the hijacking was to secure the release of Islamist terrorists held in prison in India – fellow HuM members Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Masood Azhar , and a Kashmiri militant, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar . The hostage crisis lasted for seven days and ended after India agreed to release the three terrorists. The three have since been implicated in other terrorist actions, such as the 2001 Indian Parliament attack , 2002 kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl , 2008 Mumbai terror attacks , 2016 Pathankot attack and the 2019 Pulwama attack . The hijacking has been seen as one of the millennium attack plots in late December 1999 and early January 2000 by al-Qaeda -linked terrorists. "India wanted to raid IC-814 in Dubai, but Farooq Abdullah opposed swap, says former RAW chief AS Dulat" . Center for International Security and Cooperation . There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).

1999 Indian aircraft hijacking "IC 814" redirects here. Indian Airlines Flight 814 , commonly known as IC 814 , was an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 that was hijacked on 24 December 1999 by five members of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen . The passenger flight, en route from Kathmandu to Delhi , was taken over shortly after it entered Indian airspace at about 16:53 IST . The aircraft was flown to Amritsar , Lahore , and Dubai . 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 Kandahar in Afghanistan . At the time, most of Afghanistan, including the Kandahar airport, was under the control of the Taliban . External intervention was hindered by Taliban men encircling the aircraft, and by the presence of two officers from the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan. On 27 December after two days of internal discussions, the Indian Government sent a team of negotiators headed by Vivek Katju from the Ministry of Home Affairs , which included officials Ajit Doval and C.D. After days of negotiations, India agreed to release three men it had imprisoned for terrorism – Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh , Masood Azhar and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar – 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 2001 Indian Parliament attack , 2002 kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl , 2016 Pathankot attack and the 2019 Pulwama attack . India's Central Bureau of Investigation (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 life imprisonment . The hijacking is a part of the millennium attack plots in late 1999 and early 2000 by Al-Qaeda linked terrorists.