Middle East - AP El Al Guards Foil Hijack Attempt 20 minutes ago JERUSALEM (AP) - Security guards on Israel's national airline El Al overpowered a man who tried to hijack a flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul, Israeli radio reported. The reports said that none of the 170 passengers on board were harmed and the plane landed safely in Istanbul. An official at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport confirmed that El Al flight 581 sent out a hijacking signal as it approached Istanbul but the suspect was overcome. "No one was injured," Oktay Cakirlar said."The terrorist is in custody at the police staion at the airport." Turkey's private CNN-Turk and NTV televisions quoting police sources said the hijacker was an Israeli Arab and was armed with a knife. The man was overpowered by two Israeli security guards, one posing as a passenger, the televisions said. "We heard people saying there was fighting and half a minute later it became clear that from row five or six a man ran amok towards the pilot's cabin, attacked a stewardess and tried to enter the cockpit," an Israeli passenger on the plane told Israel army radio. "We saw a stewardess running like crazy from the front of the place to the business section...She was terrified," said the passenger, identified as Menachem. Security guards "threw him to the floor with his legs spread and his face to the floor. The passengers were hysterical but the flight attendants were very cool, they calmed us down", he said. The man was being interrogated by police at Istanbul airport, the reports said. El Al is widely regarded as the best protected airline in the world, but also one of the most threatened. From the late 1960s into the 1980s, El Al planes and passengers were subjected to shooting attacks, hijacking and bombing attempts. El Al's formidable security includes armed guards at check-in, on-board marshals and extensive searches of luggage. Passengers are told to arrive three hours ahead of flights to allow enough time for the security checks.