Cuba: 'Officer killed in fugitive hijack attempt'

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Fugitive army recruits killed a military officer they took hostage early Thursday in a failed attempt to hijack a plane bound for the United States, the Interior Ministry said. Two of the escaped recruits were arrested after Army Lt. Col. Victor Ibo Acuna Velazquez was killed in the aborted hijacking, a ministry statement said. The incident began in the pre-dawn hours when the fugitive recruits commandeered a bus carrying several passengers to get to a plane on the tarmac. "Despite being unarmed, (Acuna) heroically tried to prevent the commission of the terrorist act," the statement said. Others being held hostage on the bus were unharmed, it added. The two arrested were among three army recruits who escaped from their military base on Sunday after killing a fellow soldier and wounding another before fleeing with automatic rifles. The third was captured earlier, the ministry statement said.