what should the united states be doing in a situation like this. this a high jacking taking place in egypt and does that affect any -- in terms of relations between the united states and right now getting

pictures of the plane? that is the air bus 320. how should the united states look at this in terms of what the state department would do in terms of warning americans who might be traveling in that part of the world? >> first of all though it is different, in pakistan there was an explosion and it was clear that the civilians were targeted and that children were killed and the civilians were killed and it had to do with one specific time on easter. the fact they delayed to issue a proper statement about it means that it went up the chain of command all the way up here in washington so that there would be a release. and there should be a direction. should we talk about the possibility that this is

particularly or should we call with the pakistani government. that is not an assessment with this case. in this case it is different. it is an on going situation of there were no explosions and no people killed so far as far as we can report. so there will be more cautious. they don't know if they are even american citizens involved in this situation. therefore i do expect the state department to be cosh in terms of issuing -- cautious in terms of issuing statements. >> again i want to remind everyone who is just tuning in in case you are just joining us now, an update on what is unfolding as we speak. on the phone with me is a middle east expert and contributor for fox news. the update is this. according to officials and egyptian air, flight 181, a standard bus a320 having aboard 55 passengers and seven

crew members was departing alexandria flying to cairo, egypt at 8:00 a.m. and then something on board took place and they were under a high jack. according to reports from our sister network sky news based in london, an armed man was aboard that flight. he ordered the flight to fly to cypress. you can see it there at the airport and that's where we have it right now. we know that according to reports on the ground that egyptian women and childre have been allowed to disembark, but that means other people are on board that flight. perhaps the crew members and obviously the male passengers, are crisis team has been deployed to deal with this hostage situation apparently as well as the hijacking

situation. one has to wonder how do they diffuse the moments for people on board the plane and the fact that there are reports although not confirmed that there may be a bomb on the plane gee look at the hijack or multiple ones we don't know yet. they could have flown to cairo and landed in cairo. >> they could have flown for example. one reason to fly to cyprus is they know in any other airport , the egyptian government may decide quickly to conduct an operation. they know that. that would basically hurt their goals.

if they land in cyprus or any other country it can be greece or italy, that would give them the advantage of the fact that these governments may not result immediately through violence which is to me an indication that they want something. they want something from the egyptian government and they will not undertake an action outside their country in another country without negotiating with that government. plus the fuel. this is a plane that was supposed to fly from alexandria to cairo and they will ask them to land in cyprus and other european countries. >> you are talking about the fact that we are not sure if it is one hijacker and one update i am getting according to the "new york times" that

owns this network officials are saying, quote, there seems like there is more than one hijacker. he went on to say there are no demands other than the police vehicles are to move away from the airport. the officials are speaking of conditions on anonymity under the regulations and the statement from the aviation authority said the air bus has 55 passengers on board and seven crew members. but there is no word according to this report that passengers were allowed to disembark. tell me what you are thinking with your expertise in terms of getting the demand to move away from the airport or away from the plane. >> first of all it is already moved. now with your information we move from the one possible scenario of a deranged one

person. if we are reporting that there is another and there could be others on the plane and now we are talking about the possible hijacking. it is not linked to blowing up and killing. it is an action that could be directed as i said earlier -- >> let me interrupt you a moment. i just got another update from one of my producers here and getting the information from -- as it continues to pour in right now that a pilot on board the plane has informed authorities that one man was wearing what appears to be a bomb vest or some sort of vest with a device in it. it was that person who ordered the plane to fly into cyprus. that confirms the initial reports we heard from sky news earlier when you and i started talking about this and that

was the fact that there was one armed gunman on there. as these reports come in we want to make sure we are giving them all of the facts. this is a fluid situation and we are looking at an air bus a320 which is egyptian flight 181. it has 55 passengers on board and seven crew members. it was initially from alexandria to cairo in egypt around 8:00 a.m. their time. and then about 8:46 it landed in cyprus because of fact there was someone on board demanding this plane would be under his control and would land in cyprus and you aring looking at that plane right now. our middle east expert is here

to add insight in terms of what might be happening. a crisis team is there. as he was explaining before i interrupted him to give you an update, the crisis team was told to move away from the plane and it might show the gunman or the man armed with the suicide vest is demanding control of the plane and of the situation. >> yes, absolutely. going to the point of the one or more than one individual are asking to create a security space around the plane. they must have reviewed so many spaces and if you avow to the plane it becomes an area to seize the plane from the hijackers.

they know what they are doing and they are making sure they are observing that space. more or less give us some sort of indication that they are able to observe. they are coming too close. at any point we can be confronted with the fact that somebody will be offering a choice. are the opposite, are we allowing these hijackers to seize and then with time they decide what they say. >> stay with me if you can. for those just tuning in we are watching a situation unfold in cypress. we have a crisis team on the ground. we are dealing with a

difficult situation. a high jacked plane fromy jupt jupt -- from egypt has landed in cypress. the man on board who was armed is also armed with what appears to be a vest with a device in it . we are waiting for all of the facts to come in and those on the ground dealing with this are probably just trying to deal with this and basically the media will be the last to know or the first to know as they get their information. >> hi, good morning. looking at the geographic area it is on the southern coast of cypress and that is about 50 miles east of the british airbase that is in southern cyprus in the greek part.

they are cut in two. the northern side is turkish and the southern side is greek. it has been in the greek part for years. i was based out of there in the late 90s. it is where at the moment strikes in iraq and serial yaw are being launched on the islamic state. so it is a strategic area for the wall of terrorism. what is also interesting here when it comes to the notion or the idea that there is a passenger on board with an explosive belt. i can't help but think of 9268 which was the russian charter jet that was blown up in egypt. 1k3 that to me ought ised a

breech of how passengers go on board. we have flown around america and have been subdued to the intense security which has come from the global war on terror. one would think the security procedures would have been significantly harmed because of what happened to metro-jet 9268. one of the interesting things about the explosives being used in the paris attacks were the type of explosive was called tapp cr is -- acetone peroxide. it does president contain nitrogen. a lot of the scanners are picked up by security officials, especially in the west they search for the compound nitrogen. but it doesn't contain that and it makes it harder to

detect. that's the things that are jumping out at me at the moment. we are in the early stages as it is unfolding. those are the things that have jumped out from the security incidents we have seen from the charlie hebdow and then maury lated the air incidents we have seen that was likely a consequence of terrorism. >> you laid it all out very well and as you stated we have to be careful how we are treading and reporting because we don't know the note -- the motivation behind the hijacking. you underscore something that has to be discussed here, and that is the security measures. you rightly point out after the insurance department -- incident where the russian

plane was obliterated by a terrorist attack somebody would be more conscious about putting a different kind of security apparatus and tightened security measures into place. we are finding this is not only happening in egypt, but places like belgium and paris and even intelligence gathering and intelligence sharing, it is not taking place as it should. these are available security measures in place. we are so fortunate in the united states in that we were able to avoid a lot of these. it has to be right all the time and i know we repeat it all the time that we have to be right all the time. a terrorist or any type of hijack or deranged person or lone wolf can be lucky once and it can be devastating.

>> some of the components you are talking about are relevant to the way we have to go about or the idea we have to go about and not just the islamic state, but al-qaeda affilliates. i think the way we approach terrorism we need to go about it a different way. terrorism has been around for hundreds of years. but terrorism under pinned by globalization has not. we have seen the ability to harness the internet for recruiting purposes and spreading the ideology. that's something we have found

hard to control. i suggest it is not through a lack of trying, but it is about this notion of countering ideology and has been incredibly difficult. if you look at the u.s. and the uk they have been launching airstrikes against iraq and syria for 18 months now. america has spent nearly 12 million -- or spends 12 million a day and spent nearly $6 billion in the military application and since then we have had the tunisia masacre and the paris attacks and the brussels attacks and the plethora of bombings in baghdad which we don't talk about. thousands have been killed in baghdad. in lebanon and in beirut and all over north africa. and it is still uh you --

still occurring. how do we tackle that? me years in the military and 10 tour of duty and reported millions of times out of the middle east, there has to be an understanding that we have to come at it from the other direction. one of the pieces you mentioned was intelligence. the three pieces of intelligence we use is imagery intelligence and electronic intelligence and part of that is signaling. listening in, if you like. and the drones that we see a lot of controversy over. they didn't start with connective activity. they started as intelligence tools. they have imaging sensors on and it helps the intelligence authority. the big thing -- or one of the

most important pieces is human intelligence. >> human intelligence is so important because you have to get people on the ground to find out what is going on. it relies on a level of trust for those who are on the ground and can help us find out what is going on in the minds of people. for those who are just joining us, we are looking at a situation that unfolded at 8:00 a.m. egyptian time. the bus departed alexandria and was flying to cairo and midway in that flight they were diverted because of the demands of the hijacker demanding the plane would fly to cyprus and that's where we

landed with michael k. he has a great deal of experience and he knows that area very well. we are told and we were giving you an update of pief 5 passengers and now the update according to one report is that 81 passengers are on board. 8 britains are on there as well as 10 americans. we don't know the status of the passengers. there were reports that women and children were allowed to disembark. we know there are teams -- a crisis team on the ground trying to deal with this situation. and we also noah cording to a pie -- we also know according to a pilot that that particular pilot said the man on board who was armed was armed with what appeared to be a bomb vest. michael has been explaining to us the problems that we have in this world today from the shear nature of terrorism

alone and you can see this hijacking taking place and it is confirmed and we are seeing it on the ground. one has to avoid as a reporter avoid speculation and wait for the facts to come in. it causes one to have question of where you will travel and it is plagued with terrorist activities. >> in all of these terrorist incidents happening around a the world, we really do have to keep a sense of perspective. when you look at the amount of flights that happened around the world every day, thousands and thousands and thousands of flights, these instances and these events are still incredibly unusual. they don't happen very often. you have to look how many

people die of gun death or gun violence . we have to keep in perspective these incidents are very unique and unusual we were talking about the human intelligence side earlier on. we need to change our meaned set from thinking to military application and encountering terrorism is the sole entity we use. we need to put morman -- more man power into resources and security forces and protecting the homeland. we really have to work within the european union. historically authorities have worked autonomously.

they have got a lot better. >> i have talked to so many generals here in the units -- in the united states and there is not one general, one colonel and one special forces expert who wouldn't agree with you on the fact that we need more human intelligence. from a global perspective there has to be more human intelligence on the ground. could that have prevented this? we don't know. we are still waiting for the information to come out and obviously the crisis team is more worried about dealing with the hostage situation. we are looking at police cars there now at the airport. i understand your point and most people watching us would say why don't we have it?

it takes years to develop. i was working with british special forces outside the green zone and targeting outside iraq and the intelligence we were using took months if not years to generate and to develop and to understand the spider networks and understand who is was responsible within each network for doing what and they are very complicated in terms of tracking and in terms of understanding who the individuals are and where they come from and what motivates them. if they are neutralized and attacked who will replace them. that's why we see them as the self-proclaimed capitol of the

islamic state with syria. it is the hub ofing the activity. you have mosul and northern iraq both occupied by the islamic state. >> all of your points are salient in terms of what is happening globally with terror. we are still following this and focusing and looking at movement on the ground there we have seen what appears to be -- well that's the plane itself and there are steps for people to disembark. we have no way of confirming this but routers is reporting egypt air says negotiated release of all aboard passengers hijacked is

underway except for five foreigners and the crew. i am not sure what that means. there were men on the plane and women and children were allowed to december embark. we have seen no physical evidence of that. we see a plane on the tarmac. we can see police cars and what appears to be a military vehicle looks like their version of a humvee, if you will. a humvee for those who may not know it, there it is right there. it may not be a humvee, but more of an assault vehicle. the humvees are smaller, but are souped up jeeps that are armored. we continue to poll this and this negotiation is extremely difficult. tell me what the crisis team may be discussing to try to make sure everyone is allowed

to disembark safely. >> i think one of the biggest problems security officials have faced and the military have faced in the recent decades is is the threat of the suicide bomber and it is an improvised security device. it is incredibly hard to counter. because we now see women suicide bombers and children suicide bomb eshes and it is hard to discern if someone is wearing a suicide belt or not. we have rules of engagement we need to abide by in terms of you can't just drop a neutralizer target because you think they are wearing a suicide belt. you can't because it could

cause problems. in this case when there are reports and the reports are he had a suicide belt on him i think that makes it an incredibly difficult situation. any point if that is true then the sue bide bomber can wreak a lot of havoc. i would look at how to emeliate that threat. has the person the intent to blow themselves up. >> you told me that you once served near the cyprus area. i recall working with some people in the area when i was in a wreck reporting for fox news.

they were part of the coalition forces and there were people who had flown into baghdad from cyprus and telling me how efficiently the country runs and how it is a beautiful place to visit and to go for tourism. tell me the lay of the land in terms of military structure. they are trying to deal with it and having a crisis team on the ground they are pro paired and they are handling it by the book. >> that is is a good question. one of the questions is is why lanika? it serves the tourist resort on the eastern coast, but like i said the brits have had a

spy 50 miles to the west for many years now. they have in recent years been bolstered because of the activity in terms of the air structure. there are more people operating out of there. in terms of whether they will be involved in this, and if i was the greek superior authorities i would certainly be in touch with the airbase in terms of any support whether it is logistic cal or expertise. we have uh lo of special fors activity in the middle east and iraq and syria. but i am not sure.

it is not something i can honestly say is happening, but cyprus is off 9 coast -- off the coast of lebanon and you have beirut to the east and turkey to the north and then obviously cairo to the south. looking at this from a glass half full perspective, i think the fact that it is on the ground and the fact that women and children are being released, that's positive news. >> i want to confirm that as well. the latest update we have and we reported this earlier and there was speculation that was not the case. we are getting fluctuating numbers and it is fluid for those of you who are joining us right now. one of the facts that have

come in is all of the passengers have been released except for four foreigners. we do not know their nationality. the crew are still on board. we don't know the total number of the crew. seven crew members, i'm sorry. seven crew members. that means a total of 11 people are on board. we don't know if there is more than one armed person on that plane. the pilot communicated that there is a man with a suicide bombing vest on. we don't know if that is a real vest. we have no way of knowing. we know the passengers and the women and children were allowed to disembark. four foreigners and the crew members are still on that plane. as we are looking at this for those just tuning in, we are

seeing people coming off the plane and walking down. this may be an indication that hopefully some breakthrough is taking place with the crisis team. we are watching them walk off the plane. let's just watch this for a moment. this is from sky news. perhaps we can dip into sky news to see what is happening here. >> last on board we are told are four foreign passengers and all of the crew members. the hijacker asked the police, the airport officials to back away from the plane and steps were taken back in the door. contact has been made. differing reports about what is the hijacker. we believe only one has in terms of fire power and

ammunition. they have a suicide belt or explosive strapped to her. >> the latest we hear is is the foreign ministry in cyprus cannot yet confirm whether or not the suicide belt is in fact there. but they do however say there is one hijacker, just one. sadly it is worth noting that aren't these passengers leaving the palestinian and heading for the bus? there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of panic. i think thank you look at the top of the stairs there appears to be somebody in uniform milling around and not looking panicked 1k3 scared and upset. let's bring back our correspondent. >> let's do that in a second.

obviously -- >> you have been watching sky news right there. for those who have been watching us or just joining us right now, egypt air was hijacked 8:00 a.m. this morning by a man on board the plane who is is armed. the pilot reporting that the man was armed with what appeared to be a suicide bomb vest. there was some other type of device. they flew to sigh truss -- they flew to cyprus where they have been since this morning. we are seeing some of the passengers disembarking. there are still four foreigners on boaferred and a crew and there is is a crisis team negotiating and making a breakthrough with the hijacker

to get them released. they looked calm on the plane. with me is michael kay. this is is a good thing to see the passengers are indeed allowed to get off this plane. what is happening at this point right now in terms of preparing those passengers and de briefing them. michael is standing by, but joining us is angus blair, the president of a cairo-based think tank. what can you tell us in terms of the situation? departing from will aal to a flight in cairo and then hijacked and do -- diverted to cyrus.

>> the authorities have made major moves to improve airport security 234 -- in egypt and this is a major setback to those and the authorities have a lot to answer for and in this situation for it to happen this is an issue either the land side or air side. you mentioned that almost all of the passengers, four of the possible crew have remained on. everybody else fell off. we assume that this is separate authorities will be waiting to see if we the can negotiate -- they can negotiate. that's the last thing you want is to negotiate. >> we will take a brief break and we will be coming right back at the end of the break and love to have your

expertise in terms of what is going on. angus blair, the president of signet institute. again egyptian flight 181 and air bus a320 has been hijacked from alexandria, egypt and as angus tell is us it should not have happened. many say why is this happening. when we come back what it could mean in terms of security going on in egypt and what kind of fallout could result. even though the passengers have been released we will give you more update about the crew when we continue in a few moments. you are watching fox news.

this is a fox news alert. i'm kelly wright in new york. we are reporting right now on an egyptian airline, airline flight 181, a standard air bus a320 was hijacked as it was flying from alexandria, egypt to cairo, egypt. an internal flight and something went horribly wrong. the man on the flight which the pilot said was armed with what appeared to be a suicide arming vest and demanded it would air in cyprus and landed around 8:46 local time.

officials were on the ground dealing with the situation with the crisis team on board. the crisis team has been working to try to negotiate with the hijacker on board. we have seen passengers being released from the plane although there are still foreign people aboard. we do not know their nationality and the seven crew members who are still on board. joining us is the president of the. cairo-based think tank. this is something that should not have happened. especially in october of last year and that unfortunate flight that was leaving the resort area and a very popular area throughout the region. we are totally obliterated from a terrorist attack and at that point many people started

to talk about they had to beef up security and increase security at all of the airports and make sure air travel was safe. what happened here? >> actually it is difficult to tell. it is like lon den -- london for example. it was twice before we check in. and then have our laptops checked. the security has increased and we can see. clearly there must be an issue where someone will give them help. i heard they are looking for somebody and three are persons. but again that's not being confirmed. that clearly has given details

and might have had egyptian-americans. we had egyptian-brits at the door. i think clearly the authorities who have promised to have the stand down haven't done their pork work. and it cooperate come as a time without a strong return of tour revel to all of the resorts. frankly i have to basically come up with an answer as to how this happened although we may not hear today. as to what it can do and what it can say reassure people to come to the region and we are safe. we were talk r speaking with terror experts.

we spoik with a middle east expert and the lay of the land is in egypt right now going back to the arab spring and the rise and fall and many speculate the muslim brotherhood are trying to to -- there is a lot of picture going on. this are weren'ts that israel fighter jets were dispatches to make sure they were proking -- protecting their people and if something goes sideways from the hijacking. we will get confirmation on this, but apparently the man aboard that plane, the hijacker, there is a report from sky news that he apparently was demanding or is demanding any kind of political assign will you please.

political asylum. we didn't want to speculate that it was an act of terror. it could be day ranged or perhaps somebody that is upset with his situation. this was his way of getting out. tell me when it is like for those living in egypt and what they have to contend with in term of political structure and the duress they are under. >> actually that is the case and it doesn't seem to be overly major. it is something that could happen in a week. for most people of egypt life has gone on as normal. and i don't think we node to over play. i am okay walking around the streets of london or new york.

it is a country where on average incidents are well below the global norms. there are people who are just not affected and the authorities are trying to -- use elements of calm. some of the process to which they are doing that are incredibly clumsy. in terms of the putting egypt in its right way that's a discussion for perhaps another day. for most people most of the time life goes on nomple.

life goes on normal. the stock market is open and people are invsing. are investing. it is a great market for solar industry. >> and it is a great area with a great history. >> absolutely. and enormous historic tourism 6 we have had some breakaway, but we had some in the russian plane disaster. life goes on for most people as normal. >> people need to know that egypt is still a place that is growing with promise and hope. for those getting off this plane their hope is they can return to their home since they were flying from alexandria to -- from -- to cairo and they were will find a way of getting there. we will take a break in a moment. you are watching fox news and

we are following the hijacking of egyptian air.

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from new york. i'm kelly wright. good morning. an egypt airplane flying a domestic route from alexandria to cairo has been hijacked and forced to land in cyprus.

at this time we have reports of one hijacker on board and he has been identified as an egyptian national. the hijacker is wearing what appears to be an explosive belt. there are conflicting reports of the people on board and many have been allowed to disembark the plane. four foreigners and several crew members remain on board. we are looking at the passengers who moments ago were allowed to leave the plane. the nationality of those on board is unknown, but they said previously there were several americanss on the plane. joining us on the phone is the former fbi assistant director in charge in new york. thank you for joining us for the early morning wake up call and we thank you for answering it.

tell me what you to when you have a crisis team trying to deal with a high jacking situation? how do you move forward so all lives are saved? >> things are going in the right direction for a high jacking. >> the fact that the individuals were still left on the plane is a little bit of a concern. i don't think there is enough fog to support a concrete conclusion as to the motive of this person and what he did. was security tight enough in alexandria to stop him from getting in that plane? obviously not. there are a lot of issues that

have to be addressed. right now it is the safety and security for everybody on board. >> it is interesting to see what other demands he may have and what if authorities let him take that plane. >> when you see the people getting off the flight that is so encouraging. but the concerns are those remaining on board the flight. obviously the pilot has talked to him and authoritieses are trying to talk to him as well. >> i it depends on his state of mind. anybody who does this is is a little imbalanced. whether it is political reasons or mental reasons. there is some tension but the

positive factor is they are sitting on the ground. >> let interrupt you. i have to go to a break. for those just tuning in, we are following a fox news alert on the egyptian airplane that has been hijacked. we will be back. time in my kitchen.

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