Hi all; Relatives of possible hijacker in "shock and sorrow":
German, Afghan links to suspect
Bettina Luscher, Brent Sadler, CNN.com Berlin, September 15, 2001
A Lebanese man believed to have died when a plane he helped hijack crashed in Pennsylvania attended the same German university as two other terror suspects and visited Afghanistan.
German authorities said Ziad Samir Jarrah went to a Hamburg technical school -- as did Marwan al-Shehhi, who is believed to have piloted United Air Lines Flight 175 when it crashed into the World Trade Center's South Tower in New York.
Mohamed Atta, a suspect in the hijacking of American Airlines flight 11, the plane that crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower was also enrolled in Hamburg's Harburg Technical University around the same time.
Jarrah studied electrical engineering at the Hamburg technical school close to the same time as Atta studied urban planning.
Jarrah, Atta, and al-Shehhi also lived in southern Florida, where they are believed to have taken flight lessons, federal sources said.
CNN's Brent Sadler, who spoke to Jarrah's family in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, said they told him Jarrah also spent some time in Afghanistan 18 months ago.
Jarrah's family was in shock and sorrow on Saturday as a result of his disappearance, but many family members said they did not have enough information to confirm that he was on United Air Lines Flight 93 when it crashed.
Sadler said several family members, described as well-off and well-educated, had lived, worked and were educated in the United States. Jarrah's father said his son was mild-mannered and shy.
After leaving Germany in June 2000, he went to the Miami area and took flight instruction at two schools in southern Florida.
U.S. authorities believe he may have been at the controls of United Air Lines Flight 93, when it crashed.
Jarrah, 26, had been reported as missing by his girlfriend, who lives in the western German city of Bochum, after she had not spoken to him for some time.
German authorities confirmed Jarrah lived in Hamburg and Bochum, after searching two apartments in the two cities.
At the Bochum apartment, investigators found a suitcase with documents relating to airlines and airplanes. They would not elaborate further.
Germany's prosecutor-general is still looking for another man also thought to have been enrolled at Hamburg Harburg Technical University.
On Thursday, authorities in Hamburg had also detained an airport employee and questioned a woman, but found no reason to hold either.
The man, whose name was not released, was arrested after investigators searched apartments in the city looking for evidence linked to the attacks.
asia.cnn.com
-- Carl |
