BREAKING: Libyan passenger plane hijacked by 2 pro-Gaddafi supporters armed with grenades

A Libyan passenger plane has been hijacked by two pro-Gaddafi supporters threatening to blow the aircraft up.

Maltese state TV said the men on board were armed with hand grenades that they would detonate if their demands – as yet unknown – were not met.

The Libyan Afriqiyah Airways A320 plane is believed to have 118 people on board, with the hijacking first confirmed by Malta’s Prime Minister on Twitter.

Joseph Muscat wrote that he has been told of the hijacking of an internal Libyan flight travelling from Sebha to Tripoli which was diverted to Malta mid-flight.

It is understood the plane’s engines are still running and there are 111 passengers and 7 crew members onboard. Maltese armed forces are yet to approach the aircraft.

It is unknown whether this photograph of the hijacked plane’s cockpit shows one of the hijackers or the aircraft’s pilots

A Libyan passenger plane has been hijacked by two pro-Gaddafi supporters armed with hand grenades, it has been reported

A plane has landed in Malta after it was hijacked, the country’s Prime Minister has confirmed

Joseph Muscat wrote on Twitter that he has been told of a potential hijack situation of an internal Libyan flight diverted to Malta

The plan set off from Sebha in Libya and was due to land in Tripoli, but instead carried on to the island of Malta further north

Differing reports suggested between one and two hijackers are onboard, with at least one claiming to be in possession of a hand grenade, the Times of Malta said.

They are said to be part of the pro-Gaddafi group Al Fatah Al Gadida and willing to let all passengers leave the plane if their demands – which are unclear – are met.

Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed in an uprising in 2011, and the country has been racked by factional violence since.

The Malta airport authority said all emergency teams have been dispatched to the site of what it called an ‘unlawful interference’ on the airport tarmac.

A later tweet by the Maltese Prime Minister confirmed that there was 82 males and 28 females onboard, including 1 infant.

The tiny Mediterranean island of Malta is about 300 miles north of the Libyan coast.

The aircraft had been flying from Sebha in southwest Libya to Tripoli for state-owned Afriqiyah Airways, a route that would usually take a little over two hours.

The last time a hijacked plane landed in Malta was in 1985, when EgyptAir Flight 648 was taken over by three Palestinian members of the terrorist group Abu Nidal.

The subsequent raid on the aircraft by Egyptian troops resulted in the death of 58 passengers, with only one of the three hijackers surviving.

The hijacking of planes was a common tactic by terrorist organisations during the last 20th century, most notoriously when two aircraft were flown into New York’s Twin Towers in September 2001.

Maltese troops survey a hijacked Libyan Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A320 on the runway at Malta Airport

Joseph Muscat wrote on Twitter that he has been told of a potential hijack situation of an internal Libyan flight diverted to Malta

The Malta airport authority said all emergency teams have been dispatched to the site of what it called an ‘unlawful interference’ on the airport tarmac

In March 2015, co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked himself in a cockpit of Germanwings Flight 9525 when captain went out for a rest.

He then started to descend the aircraft, and after eight minutes of falling it crashed into the Alps near the French village Prads-Haute-Bléone, killing 150 people.

A year later, in March 2016, EgyptCyprus Flight MS181 was taken over after a passenger said he was wearing an explosives belt and was diverted to Larnaca.

The hijacker surrendered after hours of negotiations with no causalities to passengers or crew.