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FBI identifies 50-strong team of attackers
The FBI has identified a team of 50 people who helped plan or carry out Tuesday`s air attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday.
The FBI has identified a team of 50 people who helped plan or carry out Tuesday`s air attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday.
It said 40 "infiltrators" had been accounted for, including those who died in the suicide attacks, and 10 remained at large.
The newspaper quoted "a source familiar with the investigation" as saying agents who searched cars and apartments found suicide notes in New York that some of the hijackers wrote for their parents.
An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.
U.S. officials say Saudi Arabian-born exile Osama bin Laden or his group al Qaeda are key suspects in the sophisticated plot. On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said some of the hijackers had trained as pilots in the United States.
"Four planes were hijacked by between three to six individuals per plane, using knives and box-cutters and in some cases making bomb threats," Ashcroft said. Ashcroft said investigators were obtaining passenger manifests, rental car receipts, telephone logs, and videotape from parking garages and pay phones for review and appropriate follow-up interviews.
The Los Angeles Times said investigators had recovered credit card receipts showing that some of the hijackers paid for flight training in the United States.
It cited another source, a federal agent involved in the probe, as saying authorities believed 27 suspected "terrorists" in all received various kinds of pilot training. Time magazine reported that two of the suspected hijackers of the American Airlines jetliner that slammed into the Pentagon had been on an FBI border watch list, but managed to enter the country due to some kind of a foul-up. Each of the four teams of hijackers included a certified pilot, some of whom had flown for Saudi Airlines, Time magazine added.
Security experts have said the attackers must have operated in a network of cells. The Los Angeles Times quoted law enforcement and intelligence officials as saying the attackers carried Middle Eastern passports and belonged to four independent cells. Bureau Report
The newspaper quoted "a source familiar with the investigation" as saying agents who searched cars and apartments found suicide notes in New York that some of the hijackers wrote for their parents.
An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.
U.S. officials say Saudi Arabian-born exile Osama bin Laden or his group al Qaeda are key suspects in the sophisticated plot. On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said some of the hijackers had trained as pilots in the United States.
"Four planes were hijacked by between three to six individuals per plane, using knives and box-cutters and in some cases making bomb threats," Ashcroft said. Ashcroft said investigators were obtaining passenger manifests, rental car receipts, telephone logs, and videotape from parking garages and pay phones for review and appropriate follow-up interviews.
The Los Angeles Times said investigators had recovered credit card receipts showing that some of the hijackers paid for flight training in the United States.
It cited another source, a federal agent involved in the probe, as saying authorities believed 27 suspected "terrorists" in all received various kinds of pilot training. Time magazine reported that two of the suspected hijackers of the American Airlines jetliner that slammed into the Pentagon had been on an FBI border watch list, but managed to enter the country due to some kind of a foul-up. Each of the four teams of hijackers included a certified pilot, some of whom had flown for Saudi Airlines, Time magazine added.
Security experts have said the attackers must have operated in a network of cells. The Los Angeles Times quoted law enforcement and intelligence officials as saying the attackers carried Middle Eastern passports and belonged to four independent cells. Bureau Report