GERMANY: US TERRORIST ATTACKS: GERMAN POLICE RAIDS A SUSPECT'S HOUSE AS AFGHANS DEMONSTRATE IN FAVOUR OF THE USA

Record ID: 352083

  • Title: GERMANY: US TERRORIST ATTACKS: GERMAN POLICE RAIDS A SUSPECT'S HOUSE AS AFGHANS DEMONSTRATE IN FAVOUR OF THE USA
  • Date: 15th September 2001
  • Summary: KARLSRUHE, GERMANY (SEPTEMBER 15, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. GV EXTERIOR GERMAN CHIEF PROSECUTORS OFFICE IN KARLSUHE; CU LOGO (2 SHOTS) 0.09 2. SV KAY NEHM, GERMAN CHIEF PROSECUTOR WALKING TO MICROPHONES 0.18 3. SCU SOUNDBITE (German) KAY NEHM SAYING "(Mohammed) Atta was aboard the American Airlines plane 11, the first plane which was directed towa
  • Embargoed: 30th September 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KARLSRUHE, BOCHUM, HAMBURG, FRANKFURT, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVAHTS888YL2WRL0ENPLGI690KA
  • Story Text: German police have found documents relating to aircraft
    in a raid on the home of a Lebanese man suspected of being one
    of the hijackers in the attacks on the World Trade Center and on the
    Pentagon in the United States.



    Federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm told a news conference on
    Saturday (September 15) the man, who spent time in the
    northwestern German town of Bochum, was believed to be part of
    an extremist Islamic group German police were already
    investigating in Hamburg.

    Two other members of the group were also suspects in the
    attacks.

    But Nehm said his office had not yet uncovered any link
    between the Hamburg group and Saudi-born exile Osama bin Laden
    who several Western intelligence agencies believe may have
    been behind
    the attacks. Bin Laden is said to have denied any involvement.

    The Lebanese man had spent some time in Bochum, where his
    Lebanese girlfriend lives and had left behind a suitcase
    containing documents relating to aircraft, which police
    seized, according to federal prosecutors.

    One of the three Hamburg suspects, Ziad Samir Jarrah, was
    listed as missing by his girlfriend in Bochum.

    "(Ziad Samir) Jarrah who was involved in the crime
    allegedly left for the United States in June 2000. He attended
    flying schools in Venice and Miami to become a pilot. Jarrah
    spent some time in Bochum over the past few years," Nehm told
    reporters.

    According to the German chief prosecutor, Jarrah was
    booked on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

    Jarrah, 26, had studied building engineering and aircraft
    construction in Hamburg.

    At least two of the suspected hijackers studied electronics at Hamburg's Technical University, prosecutors said.

    One of them, Mohammed Atta, is believed to have been
    enrolled at the university for eight years where he was said
    to have been a model student.

    "(Mohammed) Atta was aboard the American Airlines plane
    11, the first plane which was directed towards the World Trade
    Centre," said Nehm.

    Meanwhile, the first German aircraft left for the United
    States on Saturday. A Lufthansa 747 bound for San Francisco
    left Frankfurt at 1:08 p.m. (1108 GMT).

    In Hamburg, some 350 Afghan demonstrators voiced their
    support for the American people and condemned terrorist
    attacks on the United States.

    "We support the idea that bin Laden should be prosecuted
    and punished but not that the country is bombed again," said
    Rahman Nadjafi, a member of the Afghan National Unity
    Organisation.

    The protesters held up placards showing the photograph of
    legendary anti-Taliban military leader Ahmad Shah Masood just
    a short time before top Afghan opposition officials in
    Afghanistan
    confirmed his death after suffering from wounds in a suicide
    bomb attack.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register