A hijacked Afghan plane with more than 140 people on board has landed at Stansted Airport in the UK after leaving Moscow.

It is the latest stop for the hostages who spent four hours on the ground in Moscow where 10 were released.

A spokesman for Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), said the hijackers had called for an air corridor towards Western Europe to be opened, and demanded European flight maps, before leaving Moscow's Sheremetyevo 1 airport.

The plane was hijacked by about six men armed with pistols and grenades during an internal flight from the Afghan capital, Kabul, to the city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Sunday.

During the day, the aircraft landed twice in Central Asia - first in Uzbekistan and then in Kazakhstan where at least 10 passengers, including women and children, were released, and the plane was refuelled.

Hijackers' demands

The hijackers have so far made no demands, though according to one report, they are seeking the release of Ismail Khan, a military commander of the anti-Taleban alliance.

Opposition forces in Afghanistan led by commander Ahmed Shah Massoud have denied all involvement in the hijacking, saying earlier that a dissident called Gula Ajha was responsible.

According to Taleban and Afghan aviation estimates, the plane left Kabul with 186 people on board - 21 children, 11 infants, 140 adults and 14 all-male crew.

'No contact'

Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, the Taleban's minister for civil aviation and tourism, said his government had had no contact with the hijackers and had no clue as to their identity.

Ariana is banned from flying abroad by UN sanctions which have also been imposed against the Taleban movement for its refusal to extradite or expel Saudi-born dissident, Osama bin Laden. The Taleban in turn accuses Moscow of arming and training anti-Taleban fighters.

Russia and central Asian states including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan suspect the Taleban of backing rebels involved in the Chechen conflict and armed forays last year into central Asian territory.

Seventh envoy

The hijack also comes at a time when the new United Nations special envoy to Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, is due to meet the Taleban authorities in Afghanistan.

Mr Vendrell is the seventh envoy in 11 years to try to bring peace to Afghanistan.

His predecessor, Lakhdar Brahimi, resigned last October, saying he was bitterly disappointed with the negative attitude of the warring factions.

At the end of last year, a hijacked Indian Airlines Airbus was held at Kandahar in Afghanistan for eight days.

The Taleban were praised by the Indian Government and others for the way they helped secure a peaceful resolution