Page 85 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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58———Atta, Mohamed (1968–2001)

In June 2000, Atta, who
had a travel visa for the
United States, flew to
Newark, New Jersey. He
quickly relocated to
Florida, where he began
taking flight classes in
July. Throughout 2000 and
2001, he practiced his
flight skills; he also
received large sums of
money from abroad and
traveled extensively in
those years—including
several trips overseas and
much movement within
the United States. It has
been widely reported that
Czech counterintelligence
determined that an Iraqi
official under its surveil-
lance met Atta in Prague in
April 2001. Atta met with
other hijackers in Las
Vegas, Nevada, twice—
possibly finalizing the
hijacking plans. In addi-
tion, he is believed to have
made practice flights to
familiarize himself with
the aircraft he intended to
hijack. On August 28,
2001, Atta purchased two
seats on Flight 11 on
American Airline’s Web
site for himself and a
second hijacker, Abdul
Alomari.
On September 10, 2001,
Atta and Alomari drove
Since its launch in the mid-1980s, the Rewards for Justice Program has combated terrorism from Boston to Portland,
by using reward dollars to identify and apprehend terrorists who are planning, or have Maine. The next day, they
committed, terrorist acts. This Rewards for Justice poster features Mohamed Atta.
flew from Portland to
Source: Rewards for Justice, U.S. Department of State.
Boston, then boarded Flight
11 along with three other
finished his degree at Technical University, gradu- hijackers. Atta and his four confederates hijacked Flight
ating with high honors in 1999. Atta is also 11 shortly after the plane reached cruising altitude. His
believed to have established an Al Qaeda terrorist luggage was later discovered at Boston’s Logan Airport;
cell in Hamburg that had two other hijackers as it contained a letter outlining how the hijackers should
members. act during their attack.