Suspects took flying lessons in Florida

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

NEW YORK, SEPT. 13. Federal authorities have identified a team of 50 persons who may have helped plan or carry out Tuesday's air attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. The Attorney- General, Mr. John Ashcroft, said anywhere between 12 and 24 persons were involved in the hijacking of the four planes in Boston, Newark and Washington.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation appears to have some solid leads and has detained a number of persons suspected of involvement in the terrorist acts. But no formal arrests have been made so far. Officials say that the hijackers, some of whom are believed to have learnt to fly commercial aircraft in this country, have ties to countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It is also said that the investigative agencies have seized suicide notes; the perpetrators of the deadly acts had used cash and credit cards to pay for transportation and hotel rooms.

The FBI says at least two of the suspected terrorists may have taken flying lessons from a school in Florida. ``The Department of Justice has undertaken perhaps the most massive and intensive investigation ever conducted in this country,'' the Attorney- General said. At least six persons have been detained in different places, from Massachusetts to Florida. ``We are attempting to recreate the travels of each of the hijackers on the planes - either the hijackers themselves or their associates,'' said the FBI Director, Mr. Robert Mueller. At this point, the investigating teams are looking beyond the Tuesday attacks, to see patterns in earlier attacks in the United States and are exploring the possibility that several terrorist cells may have co-ordinated in pulling off this week's horrific acts. ``This could have been the result of several terrorist kingpins working together,'' a law enforcement official told a news agency.

A top Republican lawmaker appears to agree with this assessment. ``Most of it today points to Osama bin Laden but the speculation at the end of the road is that he and his network were very much involved with Hizbollah, Fatah and other terrorist outfits,'' said Senator Charles Grassley. The Republican Senator also said authorities had told him that all the hijackers were of West Asian descent and that each of the hijackers had a ``tremendous amount of ground support''.

While pursuing the ``numerous credible leads'', the FBI is also looking at the possibility that ``one set'' of hijackers with ties to Osama came to this country from Canada. In Ottawa, the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr. Jean Chretien, pledged cooperation with the U.S. on the matter. Hundreds of special agents of the FBI assisted by support personnel began work at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania (where a United Airlines jet went down); but work has not been able to resume at the World Trade Centre site.

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Section  : International
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