Reward for India hijack information

India's Central Bureau of Investigation has offered a reward of one million Rupees ($24,000) for information leading to the capture of the five suspected hijackers of an Indian Airlines plane at the end of last year.

The agency said the men - Ibrahim Ather, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Shakir, Shahid Akhther Sayed and Mistri Zahur Ibrahim - had associates in India and may try to visit them.

It has promised secrecy to all those who will come forward.

India says the five hijackers - who managed to escape capture and forced India to release three jailed Muslim militants - are Pakistani nationals who fled to Pakistan from Kandahar.

Islamabad rejects the allegations.

Last month, Indian police arrested a Muslim of Bangladeshi origin suspected of complicity in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service