Rome, Italy, Oct. 3, 2006 – A Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 with 113 people on board was hijacked after taking off from Albania's capital, Tirana, on a flight to Istanbul, said Italy's air traffic controller, Enav.

Two Turkish hijackers, who may be unarmed, want to deliver a message to Pope Benedict XVI, said Loredana Rosati, a spokesman for Enac, the civil aviation authority, citing information from police.

The plane landed at the Italian city of Brindisi shortly before 6 p.m. local time, according to Enav spokeswoman Nicoletta Tomiselli. The airport was closed and negotiations with the hijackers are underway, Alessandro Forleo, a police official in Brindisi, said. The plane was escorted down by an Italian F-16, said Roberto Tomsi, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry.

The aircraft was hijacked by two Turks to protest the pope's visit to Turkey next month, Turkey's NTV television said, citing unidentified Turkish security officials.

Muslims in many countries protested, sometimes violently, Benedict's Sept. 12 address at the University of Regensburg in his native Germany, saying the speech linked Islam to violence. Palestinian churches were firebombed and a Roman Catholic nun was murdered in Somalia.

``Vatican authorities are following the case and only know as much as they learn from the news agencies,'' said Father Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Scherer in Rome at sscherer@bloomberg.net

Source: Bloomberg