Spanish police arrested the hijacker of a Mauritanian aircraft last night after he was overpowered by passengers as the plane landed. The Air Mauritania Boeing 737 was on an internal flight in the African country when the hijacker, armed with pistols, demanded to be flown to France, officials said. The pilot landed in the Canary Islands instead. A source close to the Mauritanian president said: ‘When the pilot landed he deliberately braked very hard. The man fell to the ground and was jumped on by passengers. He fired two bullets but there are no serious injuries.’ It was not known last night what were the motives of the hijacker, who was reported to be north African. Air Mauritania’s director general, Mohamed Ould El Moctar, said the man had acted alone. ‘The lone hijacker was armed with two pistols but it is not clear whether these were real or not,’ he said. A spokeswoman for the Spanish emergency services said 20 people suffered minor cuts and bruises in the incident. She knew nothing of earlier reports that passengers had been injured during gunfire. Spain’s interior ministry said security forces arrested the hijacker and freed all […]