Video 'shows hijackers training for September 11'
The Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera aired excerpts today from a videotape in which Osama bin Laden names leaders of the 19 hijackers involved in the September 11 terror attacks.
It was impossible to verify that it was the voice of the Saudi-born dissident blamed for the attacks in which some 3,000 people died, but it sounded strikingly similar to his voice in previous tapes aired by the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera over the past year in which he spoke.
“As we talk about the conquests of Washington and New York we talk about those men who changed the course of history and cleaned the records of the nation from the dirt of the treasonous rulers and their followers,” bin Laden said.
Bin Laden, whose whereabouts are unknown, did not appear on the excerpts shown today. The full tape would be shown on Thursday, according to Al-Jazeera.
Bin laden named four men as leaders of four groups making up the 19 who hijacked four aircraft on September 11. He prayed for their souls.
The tape showed young men it said were hijackers during training in Afghanistan. They appeared to be looking at aviation maps and manuals of cockpit gadgetry.
