Co-Pilot's Target Was Tel Aviv Airport: Prosecutor

The axe-wielding co-pilot who attacked the captain of a FlyDubai flight to Tel Aviv last month intended to seize control of the airplane and fly it into the passenger terminal at Israel's main international airport, authorities in the United Arab Emirates said Friday. The UAE's top prosecutor said the suspect, an Omani national, did so "with the intention of causing the greatest possible number of human casualties"—inspired by the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US, the AP reports. Most of the 174 passengers on the flight were from Israel.

The statement carried by the state news agency WAM said the co-pilot used two previous flights from Dubai to Tel Aviv to "familiarize himself with the flight route and the airport." It said none of FlyDubai's security or professional checks had indicated that the suspect, who was identified by the AP as 29-year-old Hamam al-Hammami, harbored extremist views or plans to carry out an attack. Hammami "admitted that he had acted alone," the statement said, adding that he "provided a detailed confession" that included his motives in the presence of his lawyer. It also suggested he was radicalized at a mosque in Australia while attending the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2017. The update from the public prosecutor was the most comprehensive since the UAE took over the investigation shortly after the Sept. 30 attack.