HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): A Cuban officer killed in a failed hijacking was awarded a posthumous medal for bravery, local media reported Friday, one day after two army deserters tried to seize a plane in Havana and flee to the United States.

The decision to award the "Antonio Maceo Medal of Bravery" to the late lieutenant Colonel Victor Ibo Acuna was initiated by acting president Raul Castro who has officially led Cuba since his older brother Fidel underwent surgery in July and "provisionally" handed over power.

Ibo Acuna "tried heroically to prevent the terrorist act," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Armed with AK-47 rifles, the two deserters had entered Havana's international airport at dawn Thursday in a bus with several hostages, and boarded an empty plane hoping to fly to the United States.

Once in the aircraft, the two killed Ibo Acuna. They had already killed a soldier and wounded another when they fled their military unit just outside Havana, authorities said.

The two would-be hijackers were captured after what witnesses described as a fierce gun battle.

A third deserter had been detained earlier and "revealed their goal was to leave the country illegally," the interior ministry said.