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UAE says FlyDubai co-pilot planned ‘suicide attack’ on Ben Gurion Airport

October 9, 2026 at 6:21 pm

A replacement Flydubai plane lands at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, carrying passengers from flight FZ1073, which was diverted to Saudi Arabia after transmitting an emergency code while flying through Jordanian airspace, on September 30, 2026. [Nir Keidar – Anadolu Agency]

The United Arab Emirates said Friday that a FlyDubai co-pilot had planned to seize control of an aircraft and carry out a “suicide attack” on Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Anadolu reports.

Federal Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said an investigation into the Sept. 30 flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv found that the 29-year-old Omani co-pilot had planned the attack in advance, according to the official WAM news agency.

The suspect “had begun carrying out a premeditated terrorist plot to seize control of the aircraft and use it to launch a suicide attack targeting the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, with the aim of causing the greatest possible loss of life,” Al Shamsi said.

The attorney general said investigators had examined the suspect’s “ideological and professional background.”

According to Al Shamsi, investigators found that signs of “extremism and terrorism” had emerged in 2017 while the suspect was studying in Australia.