'Porsche 911' plotters confess

2003-10-25 16:20

Hamburg - The two suspected al-Qaeda terrorists believed to have been the architects of the September 11 attacks have given interrogators full confessions, according to a German magazine report.

The report in Der Spiegel news magazine, due to hit newsstands across Germany on Monday, quotes US and German security experts as saying the confessions came from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his right-hand man, the former Hamburg technical university student Ramzi Binalshibh, both of whom are in custody.

The two men reportedly have told interrogators that plans were drawn up as early as 1996 for flying planes into strategic targets in the United States.

Mohammed's original plan envisioned loading high explosives aboard light aircraft.

But Osama bin Laden himself is said to have dismissed that idea with the words, "Why use a hatchet when you can use a bulldozer?"

Thus, the idea of hijacking airliners was born, according to investigators.

Bin Laden personally selected three aspiring terrorists from Hamburg for the mission when the trio visited an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in late 1999.

He told them they had been chosen for a "highly confidential mission" and that they were to proceed immediately to undertake pilot training.

In February 2001 the suspected co-ordinator of the attacks, Binalshibh, was informed by bin Laden personally what the intended targets were.

In addition to the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre, the US Capitol building was also singled out for destruction.

For internal communications, Hamburg terrorist cell ringleader and suicide pilot Mohammed Atta agreed with Binalshibh to use the code word "Porsche 911".

- SAPA