Police Believe Greek Bus Hijackers Are Albanian

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Police Believe Greek Bus Hijackers Are Albanian

"ATHENS (Reuters) - Two gunmen thought to be Albanians hijacked a Greek bus with 26 passengers on Wednesday and demanded a $1 million ransom and a plane to fly them to Russia.

Hundreds of police officers, snipers in camouflage attire and special forces took up positions around the vehicle. A hostage on board the bus said the gunmen had explosives.

About five hours after the 6:00 a.m. hijack, five hostages -- three women and two men -- were freed by the gunmen. Several hours later, two more hostages, a man and a woman, were released leaving 19 hostages aboard.

After a visit to the hijack scene by Albania's ambassador and telephone talks between the law and order ministers of Greece and Albania, a senior police official told Reuters authorities believed the gunmen were Albanians and ruled out suggestions they might be Russians. "Unless we see their passports we can't be 100 percent certain, but we are operating now on the belief they are from Albania," the official said."

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