Turkish media reports indicate that the investigation of Mommen Abdul Aziz Talikh, the Palestinian who hijacked the AtlasJet passenger plane en route from Nicosia to Istanbul, showed that he had trained at Al-Qaeda camps. The investigation also revealed that Talikh had been in the same Saudi prison as a man called "Ahmed" who was serving a life sentence for helping to organize the 9/11 attacks. It is reported that Talikh and the second hijacker, Turkish national Mehmet Resat Ozlu, became friends in Cyprus and wanted to go to Afghanistan to join the jihadists there, and decided to hijack the plane to get to Iran first.

The reports also said that Talikh may have ties with some leading Al Qaeda operatives.

Source: Haber 7, Turkey, August 19, 2007