Israel

UAE Says Flydubai Copilot Planned Suicide Attack on Ben Gurion Airport

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Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of an archival October 2006 aerial view of Ben Gurion Airport Terminal 3, its concourses, apron, parked aircraft and taxiways, with an airplane wing in the right foreground; airport context, not a depiction of the September 2026 cockpit assault or October findings, rendered in warm ochre and slate-blue pastel strokes.

UAE prosecutors said on October 9 that a 29-year-old Omani Flydubai copilot had planned to seize flight FZ1073 and crash it into Ben Gurion Airport's passenger terminal. Investigators said he used two earlier Tel Aviv flights to study the route and airport before the September 30 cockpit assault with an emergency axe. A pilot travelling aboard, crew and passengers restrained him and rescued the injured captain; the aircraft landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors said he confessed with his lawyer present and claimed to have acted alone. Investigators are still checking that claim and possible accomplices.

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wam.aeForeign government

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