What we learn about the FlyDubai co-pilot who allegedly stabbed the captain and tried to crash the plane

A day after a FlyDubai co-pilot made a violent attempt to crash the airliner and was subdued by passengers and other crew members, questions about his identity and motivations continued to swirl Thursday.

The Dubai-Tel Aviv flight was approaching Israel when the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain and tried to crash the plane, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. The captain was able to push the co-pilot away long enough to unlock the cockpit door. The passengers then overpowered the co-pilot and two off-duty pilots who were on the flight managed to take control of the plane and make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

There were 174 people on board the plane. No passengers were seriously injured during the incident. The pilot was stabbed during the attack. Saudi authorities said two crew members were hospitalized with unspecified injuries and the co-pilot remained in custody Thursday.

Who was FlyDubai’s co-pilot?

The co-pilot of the flight has not yet been publicly identified.

An Omani official confirmed to CBS News that the attacker was born in Oman and currently holds Omani citizenship, but the Omani government has not publicly confirmed his nationality.

Co-pilot’s motive unknown

The motive for the alleged attack on the co-pilot remains unknown.

Netanyahu speculated to CBS News on Wednesday that the incident looked “like a suicide attempt”, referring to witnesses who said the co-pilot tried to jam the plane’s equipment instead of stabilizing the plane. After the passengers overpowered the co-pilot, he shouted for someone to kill him, Netanyahu told Fox News on Thursday.

In the same Fox interview, Netanyahu said that “personal information” collected during ongoing interrogations had led Israel to the conclusion that the co-pilot “had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination.” He did not offer more information.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday called the incident an “attempted jihadist terrorist attack” and called the co-pilot a “terrorist.”

President Trump suggested Thursday that the co-pilot could be linked to Iran, “based on what I’m hearing.”

“We are working on it now,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re very open with us. I would say the answer, from what I’m hearing, is yes. But we’re working on it right now.”

His comments went further than Netanyahu, who told Fox it was “too early to tell” whether Iran was involved.

An Israeli security official told CBS News that authorities were investigating whether the incident may have been an attempted 9/11-style terrorist attack, and were also looking into whether the attacker was working alone. Netanyahu has warned in recent days of unspecified and growing threats to Israel’s security and interests amid his ongoing operations against Iran’s ally Hamas in the United States. Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The co-pilot will be questioned in the United Arab Emirates

The co-pilot was immediately placed under arrest.

He was “interrogated by Saudi authorities” on Wednesday, Netanyahu said. Netanyahu said Israeli authorities would “join the interrogation and find out what exactly happened there,” but did not say when that might take place.

Netanyahu did not specify whether the interrogation that led investigators to believe the co-pilot had undergone “radical Islamist indoctrination” was conducted by Saudi or Israeli authorities.

A senior Israeli official told CBS News’ Dov Lieber on Thursday that UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan personally told Netanyahu on Wednesday that he expected Saudi authorities to transfer the co-pilot to the UAE for questioning.

Saudi Arabia said Thursday afternoon that the co-pilot had been transferred to the United Arab Emirates, the Associated Press reported.