Hijackers release passengers after seizing Libyan Afriqiyah Airways flight

Two Libyan men armed with a pistol and grenade who hijacked an aircraft and threatened to blow it up have surrendered peacefully in Malta.

The pair, named as Suhah Mussa and Ahmed Ali, gave themselves up after allowing passengers and then some crew members off the Afriqiyah Airways jet.

The hijackers, believed to be aged in their twenties, later left the plane alongside the rest of the crew. Mussa and Ali were then taken into custody.

Maltese soldiers searched the plane and found a second pistol on board.

The Airbus A320, with 111 passengers and seven crew, was travelling on an internal flight from the Libyan city of Sabha to the capital Tripoli when it was diverted to Malta on Friday morning.

All flights to Malta International Airport were immediately diverted and emergency teams including negotiators headed to the scene.

Malta's prime minister said the hijackers had surrendered without making any demands after his government insisted all passengers had to be freed.

In a series of tweets, PM Joseph Muscat said 65 people were allowed to leave, then another 44, including some crew, followed by the hijackers and the final crew members.

All were seen leaving the aircraft without hand luggage. The passengers will be questioned by police and then returned to Libya on another Afriqiyah Airways jet, while the hijackers are being interrogated.

The plane's pilot Ali Milad told Libyan TV that initially the hijackers had asked him to head to Rome.

He said the men were seeking political asylum in Europe and wanted to set up a political party called "the New Fateh".

The Maltese prime minister has not confirmed the claim.

Fateh is a reference to ex-Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who led the Fateh revolution after his coup in 1969 and was killed in 2011 after being overthrown in an uprising.