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Special Event

Millennium 2000: Manhunt Underway for Indian Airlines Hijackers

Aired January 2, 2000 - 11:01 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to begin our report now with a lingering mystery from the hijacking of an Indian Airlines jetliner. That eight day ordeal ended on Friday, but the search for the five hijackers continues.

The manhunt is underway, and there is tight security along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

CNN's Peter Bergen joins us now by telephone from Islamabad in Pakistan with more -- Peter.

PETER BERGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, the Pakistani government says it's on high alert on it's borders with Afghanistan, on the lookout for the hijackers of the Indian Airbus jet. Of course, no one knows exactly what the hijackers look like, since they wore masks throughout the eight-day hijacking.

Last night, I crossed the border from Kandahar, Afghanistan, to Qeda (ph), Pakistan, that's the nearest possible point the hijackers might have taken if they had crossed into Pakistan. My documents were closely examined on three occasions by Pakistani police and immigration officials, so security is very tight.

However, the borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan are long and porous, about almost 1,000 miles long, and there are isolated mountain passes the militants could have clandestinely crossed. So right now the hijackers and released militants appear to have vanished -- Jim.

CLANCY: Peter, was there any evidence of organizational support along the Pakistani border? Of course, many of these people came from Pakistan, their homes were in Pakistan, did they have supporters that were obvious in any way?

BERGEN: Well, Jim, there are several Kashmiri militant groups that are based in Pakistan. Haracat Alansa (ph), which appears to be behind this hijacking, has a headquarters here. There's another group called Lashcar Atobia (ph), which also has headquarters here. I talked to the Lashcar Atobia people, they condemn the hijacking as quote, "un-Islamic," and the Haracat Alansa people who are allegedly responsible for this hijacking aren't commenting. But clearly there is a support network here in Pakistan if the hijackers were to come here. CLANCY: All right, Peter Bergen, reporting to us there from Islamabad.

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