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September
11, 2001 Terrorists/Hijackers
September
2001-In
Boston The FBI found a copy of the Koran, a videotape on how to
fly commercial jets and a fuel consumption calculator in a pair of
bags meant for American Airlines Flight 11. The suitcases belonged
to a man with an Arabic name who investigators believe was one of
those who hijacked the plane and crashed it into The World Trade
Center. The man boarded Flight 11 after flying into Boston's Logan
International airport from Portland, Maine, but his bags missed
the connection.
The
FBI seized a Mitsubishi rental car containing Arabic-language
flight training manuals at Logan International Airport. The car
was rented to two men who were brothers whose passports were
traced to the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan. One of the men
was a trained pilot. They were on flight 175.
Muhammed Attah who learned to fly at Huffman
Aviation in Venice, Florida was on fight 11.
The
FBI and The Justice department announced the identities of all of
the hijackers:
The hijackers aboard American
Airlines Flight 11 were :
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Mohamed Atta
(Egyptian)
he
was born on September 1, 1968 in Kafr el Sheikh, a city in the
Nile Delta in Egypt and also carried a Saudi passport. He grew
up in Cairo, Egypt and graduated with a degree in architecture
from Cairo University. He was apparently not particularly
religious during this period. He then moved to Germany, where
he was registered as a student of urban planning at the
Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg in Hamburg from 1993
to 1999. There are other reports that Atta attended Valencia
School of Medicine in Spain during this period, though these
may be a case of mistaken identity. In Hamburg, Atta
worked on a thesis exploring the history of Aleppo's urban
landscapes. It explored the general themes of the conflict
between Arab civilization and modernity. Atta criticized how
the modern skyscrapers and development projects in Aleppo were
disrupting the fabric of that city by blocking community
streets and altering the skyline. There were reports that he
worked as a car salesman while studying, to help pay for
tuition.After he graduated, he took a bus to Aleppo to visit
his professor Dittmar Machule for three days on an archaeology
site. In Germany, Atta was registered as a citizen of the
United Arab Emirates. His German friends describe him as an
intelligent man with religious beliefs who grew angry over the
Western policy toward the Middle East, including the Oslo
Accords and the Gulf War. While in Germany, Atta became
more and more religious, especially after a pilgrimage to
Mecca in 1995. A German terrorist of Syrian origin, Mohammed
Haydar Zammar, claims he met Atta at this time and recruited
him into al-Qaeda. Atta started attending an Islamic prayer
group at the university, and is thought to have been recruited
for fundamentalist causes there. Other students remember him
making strident anti-American and anti-Semitic statements.
That year he also made an unconditional loan of $25,000 to
help Muharrem Acar start up a Turkish bakery. In a visit home
to Egypt in 1998, his former friends noticed that he had
become much more of a religious fundamentalist than he had
been before.
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Waleed
al-Shehri (Saudi
Arabian)
was
from 'Asir Province, a poor region in southwestern Saudi
Arabia that borders Yemen. Studying to become a teacher like
Wail, Waleed accompanied his brother's leave-of-absence after
Wail complained of a mental symptom that had caused him grief,
telling their father that he intended to seek aid from a
religious healer in Medina. The brothers arrived at the Al
Farouq training camp in Afghanistan where they met Ahmed al-Nami
and Saeed Alghamdi. The four reportedly pledged themselves to
Jihad in the Spring of 2000, in a ceremony presided over by
Wail - who had dubbed himself Abu Mossaeb al-Janubi after one
of Mohammad's companions. Waleed later served in the
security forces at Kandahar airport along with Saeed al-Ghamdi.
After being selected for the operation, he trained with the
other hijackers at al-Matar complex under Abu Turab al Jordani.
-
Wail
al-Shehri (Saudi Arabian)
Although
Wail used the birthdate of September 1, 1968, his father later
claimed that he was only 26-years old at the time of the
attack.A local teacher, Wail reportedly took leave of his
position to seek treatment for a mental symptom that had
caused him grief, telling his father that he intended to seek
aid from a religious healer in Medina. Waleed, who was then
studying to become a teacher himself, accompanied him.
Afterwards,
they both disappeared for a time, saying they were going to
Chechnya to defend Muslims there. This has not been confirmed.
The brothers ended up at the Al Farouq training camp in
Afghanistan, where they met Ahmed al-Nami and Saeed Alghamdi.
The four reportedly pledged themselves to Jihad in the spring
of 2000, in a ceremony presided over by Wail, who had dubbed
himself Abu Mossaeb al-Janubi after one of Mohammad's
companions.
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Abdulaziz
al-Omari (Saudi
Arabian)
Little
is known about al-Omari's life, and it is unclear whether some
information refers to al-Omari or another person by that name.
He has used birth dates of December 24, 1972 and May 28, 1979.
He came from Asir Province, a poor region in southwestern
Saudi Arabia that borders Yemen. According to a 2003 CIA
report, he had graduated with honours from high school,
attained a degree from the Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud University,
was married, and had a daughter.
He
is alleged to have often served as an imam at his mosque in
Saudi Arabia and is believed by American Authorities to have
been a student of a radical Saudi cleric named Sulayman al
Alwan, whose mosque is located in Al Qasim.
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Satam
al-Suqami (Saudi
Arabian)
A
native of the Saudi Arabian city of Riyadh, al-Suqami was a
law student at the King Saud University. While there he joined
a (possible) former roommate named Majed Moqed in training for
al-Qaida at Khalden, a large training facility near Kabul that
was run by Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi.
Mohammed Atta is believed to
have flown Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade
Center.
The hijackers aboard United
Airlines Flight 175 the hijackers were :
Al-Shehhi
was born in Ras al Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates, to a
Muslim cleric. Al-Shehhi was seen as a quiet and devout Muslim.
In February, 1996, al-Shehhi enrolled in a language institute in
Bonn, Germany. He boarded with a local family. It took two years
for him to learn enough German before he enrolled in a
university with a military scholarship.
Fayez
left his family in 'Asir, telling his parents that he hoped to
find work with the International Islamic Relief Organization. He
only contacted his parents once after that. He is believed to
have visited the Philippines for three days from October 17-20,
2000. Banihammad used the controversial program Visa Express to
gain entry into the country together with Saeed al-Ghamdi. Upon
later review of his application, it was noticed that he hadn't
listed an occupation or reason for visit, and when asked where
he would be living in the country, simply wrote No. However, he
still received his Visa.
Born
1979, al-Shehri was one of five hijackers to come from the 'Asir
province of Saudi Arabia, the others being Ahmed al-Nami,
Abdulaziz al-Omari and Waleed and Wail al-Shehri, two brothers
unrelated to Mohand. Mohand was a student at Imam Muhammed Ibn
Saud Islamic University in Abha, but his growing devotion to
Wahhabiism took him on frequent trips to Al Qasim, and as a
result he failed his final exams.
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Hamza
al-Ghamdi (Saudi
Arabian)
Al-Ghamdi
was from the al Bahah province of Saudi Arabia, an isolated
and underdeveloped area, and shared the same tribal
affiliation with fellow hijackers Ahmed al-Ghamdi, Saeed al-Ghamdi,
and Ahmed al-Haznawi. This group is noted as being some of the
more religiously observant of the hijackers, and they are
thought to have met each other some time in 1999.
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Ahmed
al-Ghamdi (Saudi
Arabian)
Al-Ghamdi
was from the al Bahah province of Saudi Arabia, an isolated and
underdeveloped area, and shared the same tribal affiliation with
fellow hijackers Saeed al-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmed al-Haznawi.
This group is noted as being some of the more religiously
observant of the hijackers. Al-Ghamdi quit school to fight in
Chechnya against the Russians in 2000, and received a US Visa on
September 3rd of that year.
Marwan
al-Shehhi is believed to
have flown Flight 175 into the South Tower.
The hijackers aboard American
Airlines Flight 77 were :
-
Hani Hanjour (Saudi
Arabian)
Hanjour
was the fourth of seven children, born to a food-supply
businessman in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia. During his youth he
suggested he may drop out of school to become a flight
attendant, although his brother Abulrahman discouraged this
route, and tried to help him focus on his studies.(Cape Cod
Times) He was the only hijacker to live in the United States
prior to any intentions for a large-scale attack, and was not
apart of the Hamburg cell in Germany.
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Khalid
al-Mihdhar (Saudi
Arabian)
Born
in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, he went with Nawaf al-Hazmi (another
alleged 9/11 hijacker) to Bosnia in 1995 to join the Bosnian
Muslims in their war against Bosnian Serbs. Afterwards, both
men returned to Afghanistan along with Nawaf's brother Salem,
joined al-Qaeda, and fought against the Afghan Northern
Alliance. According to al-Mihdhar's family, he fought with
Chechnyan Muslims 1998. He was the only hijacker known to have
been married.On April 7, 1999, al-Mihdhar obtained a US visa
through the US Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
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Majed Moqed (Saudi
Arabian)
Moqed
was a law student from the small town of Annakhil, Saudi Arabia
(west of Medina), studying at King Fahd University's Faculty of
Administration and Economics, before he dropped out was
apparently recruited into al-Qaeda in 1999 along with friend
Satam al-Suqami, with whom he had earlier shared a college room.
Nawaf
was born in Mecca to Muhammad Salim al-Hazmi, a grocer. He
travelled to Afghanistan as a teenager in 1993.In 1995, he and
Khalid al-Mihdhar went to fight for the Bosnian Muslim side in
the Bosnian war. Afterwards, Nawaf returned to Afghanistan along
with his brother Salem, and al-Mihdhar. The three there met al-Qaida,
and fought against the Afghan Northern Alliance. Nawaf al-Hazmi
fought alongside Chechnyans sometime around 1998, possibly with
his brother and al-Mihdhar, and returned to Saudi Arabia in
early 1999. In April 1999, both al-Hazmi brothers and Khalid al-Mihdhar
obtained US visas through the US Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi
Arabia.
Born
on February 2, 1981 to Muhammad Salim al-Hazmi, a grocer. There
are reports that he fought in Afghanistan with his brother,
Nawaf al-Hazmi, and other reports say the two fought together in
Chechnya. (The two may not have been actual brothers, although
they claimed they were.) Both obtained US visas through the US
Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in April of 1999.
Hani Hanjour is believed to have
flown Flight 77 into the Pentagon.
The hijackers aboard United
Airlines Flight 93 were :
Jarrah
was born in Mazraa, Lebanon, to a wealthy family. His parents
were nominally Muslim Sunnis, although they lived a secular
lifestyle. When he was seven years old, Israel invaded southern
Lebanon, a fact he referred to later in life. His parents sent
him to a Catholic private school in Beirut called La Sagesse,
where he volunteered at a camp for disabled children and helped
run an anti-drug program. His academic success to this point was
mediocre, and his parents arranged for private tutors in
mathematics, physics and chemistry. He remained close to his
family; he was apparently the only 9/11 hijacker to have close
family ties, including with his uncle Assem Omar Jarrah whose
work permit would later be found in the wreckage with Ziad's
passport. In his childhood, he had always wanted to fly planes,
but his family discouraged this. "I stopped him from being
a pilot," his father told the Wall Street Journal a week
after the attacks. "I only have one son and I was afraid
that he would crash."
Al-Haznawi
was the son of an Saudi imam from al-Baha, an isolated and
underdeveloped area, and shared the same tribal affiliation with
fellow hijackers Saeed al-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmed al-Ghamdi.
This group is noted as being some of the more religiously
observant of the hijackers. Al-Haznawi announced he was leaving
his family in 1999 to help fight in Chechnya, although his
father forbade him. His father and brother, Abdul Rahman al-Haznawi,
reportedly last heard from him in late 2000, after he made
references to training in Afghanistan.
Born
in Saudi Arabia, al-Nami served as a muezzin at the Seqeley
mosque after having reportedly become very religious sometime in
early 1999. That autumn he enrolled in the King Khaled
University at Abha to study Sharia, he left his family home in
Khamis Mushayt in the summer of 2000 to complete the Hajj, but
never returned - instead travelling to the Al Farouq training
camp in Afghanistan where he meets and befriends Waleed and Wail
al-Shehri, two brothers from Khamis Mushayt, and Saeed Alghamdi.
Al-Ghamdi
was from the al Bahah province of Saudi Arabia, an isolated and
underdeveloped area, and shared the same tribal affiliation with
fellow hijackers Ahmed al-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmed al-Haznawi.
This group is noted as being some of the more religiously
observant of the hijackers. Al-Ghamdi is said to have come from
a town called Abha. He did not have a college degree. He may
have been in contact with other future hijackers as early as
1999. Al Ghamdi spent time in al Qasim province, Saudi Arabia
where he transferred to college but soon dropped out and ceased
contact with his family. While there, he probably associated
with the radical Saudi cleric named Sulayman al Alwan as several
other future hijackers did.
Ziad Jarrah is believed to have
crashed Flight 93 into the Pennsylvania countryside to prevent or
end an assault by the passengers.
Ahmed
al-Ghamdi, Saeed al-Ghamdi,
Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmad al-Haznawi came from three neighboring
towns and belonged to the same tribe. Wail al-Shehri was Waleed
al-Shehri's older brother. Salem al-Hazmi was a younger brother of
Nawaf al-Hazmi.
The terrorist attack itself was
planned by Khalid Sheik Mohammed and approved by Osama bin Laden;
according to the 9/11 Commission Report, Mohammed personally chose
the hijackers, and bin Laden approved of the decision. Sheik
Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah became the organizers of the plot.
Monday,
September 10, 2001
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8/9:00
pm Sometime between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm, two Middle Eastern males were seen
at Pizza Hut, 415 Maine Mall Road, South Portland, Maine, for approximately
fifteen (15) minutes.
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8:31
pm ATTA and AL-OMARI were photographed by a Key Bank drive-up ATM located at
445 Gorham Road, South Portland, Maine. They were driving a 2001 blue Nissan
Altima rental car bearing Massachusetts license 3335VI.
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8:41
pm ATTA and AL-OMARI were photographed by a Fast Green ATM located in the
parking lot of UNO's restaurant, 280 Maine Mall Road, South Portland, Maine.
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9:15
pm ATTA and AL-OMARI were at Jetport Gas Station, 446 Western, Avenue, South
Portland, Maine.
ATTA
was wearing a half dark, half light colored shirt with light colored slacks.
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9:22
pm ATTA was at Wal-Mart, 451 Payne Road, Scarborough, Maine, for
approximately twenty minutes. Tuesday, September 11, 2001
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5:33
am ATTA and AL-OMARI checked out of the Comfort Inn.
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5:40
am The 2001 blue Nissan Altima rental car, bearing Massachusetts license
3335VI, entered Portland International Jetport Airport parking lot. It was
parked on the first floor directly across from the airport entrance.
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5:43
am ATTA and AL-OMARI checked in at US AIRWAYS counter.
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5:45
am ATTA and AL-OMARI passed through airport security.
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6:00
am ATTA and AL-OMARI departed on Colgan Air en route to Boston,
Massachusetts.
Hijackers Mohammed
Atta, right, and Abdulaziz Alomari, center, pass through airport
security, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 at Portland International
Jetport
Surveillance video from
Washington Dulles International Airport the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 shows
Nawaf al-Hazmi, with his brother, Salem, a fellow hijacker. They set off the
metal detector checked and allowed to board the plane.
Credit: The 911 Commission Report,FBI
http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/index.htm
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