An Afghan man has been arrested after an attempted attack in a civilian passenger plane, but the motives behind the incident were unclear, the interior ministry said on Monday, Reuters reported.
"One of the passengers had a knife and while the plane was flying mid-flight he wanted to commit a destructive action on the plane," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told Reuters about the incident, which happened on Sunday.
"But before that could happen, security personnel and passengers inside the plane identified the passenger and arrested this suspect ... we're questioning the man to find out what was his motive."
The ministry could not immediately confirm which airline was involved nor its route. The Afghan was from a northern province.
"We have 72 hours to question him and we will soon let you know for what reason he wanted to do this, whether this (was) a hijack or another destructive plan to bring the plane down," the official said.
While there was no confirmation the incident was linked to any militant attack, the arrest comes as the Taliban announced an offensive against foreign troops, Afghan government officials and diplomats said on Monday.
Thousands of Western and Afghan troops are gearing up to launch a military campaign against the Taliban in their spiritual stronghold in Kandahar next month.