the leader, abdul abdullah yahia, already a notorious murderer, and the other three members of the armed islamic group (groupe islamique armé, or gia) brandished firearms and explosives and announced their allegiance to the gia, demanding co-operation from the 220 passengers and 12 flight crew. the hijackers had kalashnikov assault rifles, uzi submachine guns, pistols, homemade hand grenades and two 10-stick dynamite packs. later, at one point during the flight, the men placed one pack of dynamite in the cockpit and one pack under a seat in the middle of the aircraft, then linked them with detonator wire. they also took the uniforms of the pilots to confuse algerian army snipers.