Unarmed Bangladesh hijacking suspect on Dubai-bound flight was motivated by 'marriage problems'

A would-be hijacker shot and killed by Bangladesh commandos was carrying a fake gun and told negotiators he wanted to commandeer a Dubai-bound flight because he had troubles with his wife, officials said on Monday.

The 25-year-old was shot and later died of his wounds after taking a crew member hostage on the Biman Airlines jet, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Chittagong airport late on Sunday.

Some 134 passengers and 14 crew were released unharmed after an operation that lasted barely 10 minutes. Airport Manager Wing Commander Sarwar-e-Jaman said the hijacker was "psychologically imbalanced".

"The reason he gave for the hijack was that he had troubles with his wife and he wanted to talk to the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina," Sarwar told AFP.

Ahmed's father told Bangladeshi media that his son was reportedly having an affair with a local film star. Intimate images purportedly of the pair have gone viral on social media since the hijacking late on Sunday.

Flight BG 147 was going from Dhaka to Dubai via Chittagong when the hijacking started.

The man reportedly wielded a gun in the cabin and tried to storm the cockpit, forcing an emergency landing. One passenger told reporters he may have fired the weapon twice, but civil aviation authority chairman Air Vice Marshall Nayeem Hasan said the gun he was carrying was not real.

"According to those who have seen it, it appears that the gun was fake," Hasan said. Bangladesh's elite police unit, the Rapid Action Battalion, meanwhile identified the suspect as Mohammad Polash Ahmed from Narayanganj, just outside the capital Dhaka.

"His details matched a criminal on our database," the RAB said in a statement, without going into details of his prior alleged offences.