Co-pilot in flydubai hijack bid allegedly planned to crash plane into Tel Aviv airport or tower

An Omani national accused of attempting to hijack a flydubai aircraft is reported by US and Israeli sources to have intended to crash the plane into Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv or into a tower block in the city. The reports describe him as a lone-wolf extremist.

The incident occurred on flight FZ1073, travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The United Arab Emirates' attorney-general has said the co-pilot attempted to carry out a terrorist act during the flight.

During the alleged attack, the co-pilot used the cockpit's emergency crash axe to attack and injure the captain, before passengers managed to subdue him. A second crew on board the aircraft then took control and diverted the plane to land safely in Saudi Arabia. A separate flydubai aircraft was later used to transport the stranded passengers from Saudi Arabia onward to Israel.

Israel's prime minister has said the co-pilot had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination, and credited the captain, passengers and the relief crew with preventing what he described as a disaster on the scale of the September 11 attacks.

Separately, authorities in Australia are reported to be investigating the co-pilot's possible links to the country.