1970: Hijacked jets destroyed by guerrillas

Palestinian militants have blown up the three planes they have been holding at an airfield in the Jordanian desert.

The 40 hostages were taken from the planes minutes before the explosions destroyed the grounded jets.

Two of the planes had been captured by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) six days ago.

The last plane was seized on 9 September on a flight from Bombay to London and forced to join the others at Dawson's Field airstrip - a former RAF base.

A spokesman for the PFLP said the destruction of the planes at 1530 local time (1430 GMT) was the first step of their warning to the governments of Switzerland, Britain and Germany.

It was clear there was a plan to foil our seizure of the planes

PFLP spokesman

