Hijackers of a Sudanese passenger jet at a Libyan airport have released all passengers aboard, a Libyan official has said.

The two hijackers of the Sun Air Boeing 737 freed all the passengers at a remote airbase in the Libyan desert on Wednesday but continued to hold seven crew members, the official said.

"All of the passengers have left the plane," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"The two hijackers and the crew are still inside. We are continuing to negotiate with them."

The jet was hijacked shortly after takeoff from Darfur's main city Nyala on Tuesday and bound for Khartoum.

It was granted permission to land by Libyan authorities at the isolated World War II-era Kufrah airport in the southeast of the country after it ran short on fuel.

The passengers were reportedly given water but no food and some fainted when the air conditioning failed in the searing desert heat.

No claim

No movement has claimed public responsibility, but the director of Kufra airport said they belong to a faction of the Sudanese Liberation Army, whose exiled leader Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur lives in Paris.

"The plane's pilot has indicated that the hijackers have said they belong to the Sudanese Liberation Army of Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur," an official told Libya's official JANA news agency.

The plane's pilot said "the hijackers claim to have coordinated with him (Nur) to join him in Paris," he added.

Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, in Paris said that "everything is being considered" to protect the lives of those on  board, while not saying explicitly whether France was prepared to receive the aircraft.

"If [Libyan leader] Colonel [Muammar] Gaddafi can convince the hijackers, and not harm the lives of the passengers, that's good, but otherwise everything must be done for the passengers' lives," Kouchner told Europe 1 radio.

Nur "is a true leader of a rebellion, of the resistance in Darfur, who says that he does not know these people and that he absolutely refuses to use these methods," Kouchner said.

Abdel Hafez Abdel Rahim, spokesman for Sudan's Civil Aviation Authority, said there were 95 people on the plane, including eight crew members and among the 87 passengers were two Egyptians and a Kenyan.

Hand-over request

Sudan on Wednesday called on the Libyan authorities to arrest and deport to Khartoum the "terrorist" hijackers.

Speaking earlier to AFP news agency, Sadiq said consultations with the Libyans were aimed first at ensuring the safety and release of all Sudanese onboard, including the crew.

"Number two, to ensure that the hijackers be handed over to the government here to face the force of the law," Sadiq said.

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