French commandos stormed an Air France jetliner Monday, killing four hijackers and ending a drama that began 40 hours earlier in Algeria.
The assault rescued most of the 170 aboard. The Islamic radicals killed three passengers before the plane landed in France earlier in the day.
None of the commandos died, but one lost a hand during the 20-minute raid, broadcast live on French television.
Prime Minister Edouard Balladur said he ordered the raid "as the only way of safeguarding human lives."
Also hurt in the assault: 13 passengers, nine police, two crew members and a pilot.
The hijackers may have triggered the attack at 11:00 a.m. ET by firing on the control tower. With the hijackers in the cockpit, the commandos burst in, throwing concussion grenades and opening fire.
Television showed co-pilot Jean-Paul Borderie, 48, clambering out a cockpit window and falling to the ground. He got up, clutching one arm, and hobbled away.
The drama began Saturday when the plane was commandeered in Algeria - a wrenching act in the three-year war against that nation's military-backed government.
The hijackers - the oldest was reportedly 20 - armed with two AK-47s and two handguns, forced the jet to fly to Marseille after killing three hostages and freeing about 60.
The dead include an Algerian policeman, a Vietnamese diplomat and a cook at the French embassy.
A released passenger, Algerian singer Cesar Ferhat, told reporters he was told by police the gunmen planned to crash the plane in Paris.
The hijacking came two days before the third anniversary of a fundamentalist election victory in Algeria. Muslims went to war 1992 after the army canceled another vote Muslims were expected to win, and installed its own leaders.
