Worldwide terror probe developments

Worldwide terror probe developments

Veeramalla Anjaia The Jakarta Post Washington

United States authorities were analyzing a document they believe was written by one of the hijackers involved in the United States terror attacks on Sept. 11 as investigators probed indications that further attacks may be planned.

U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents found the document in luggage belonging to the man identified as Mohamed Atta, thought to be one of the key organizers of the hijackings, the Washington Post reported.

Written in Arabic, the document mingles spiritual exhortations with an operational checklist for the airborne suicide attacks, the Post said, quoting a translation of excerpts of the note.

The FBI earlier released photos of the 19 men suspected of conducting the suicide attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Authorities hope that releasing the photos will help move the investigation forward.

The FBI is pursuing more than 200,000 leads in what has become the largest probe in US history and is investigating whether further attacks were planned.

Atta, one of the suspected hijackers in the Sept. 11 assault on the World Trade Center, left behind a handwritten document that included Islamic prayers and instructions for a last night of life, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

The five-page document, written in Arabic, also contained practical reminders to bring "knives, your will, IDs, your passport" and to "make sure nobody is following you," the newspaper said.

U.S. officials have said Atta, a 33-year-old Egyptian, was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, which struck the World Trade Center's north tower. Nearly 6,500 people are dead or missing in the attacks on the twin towers and the Pentagon and the crash of a fourth hijacked jet in Pennsylvania.

The Post called the document, found in a piece of Atta's luggage that did not make it onto his flight, a cross between a chilling spiritual exhortation and a mission checklist.

It urged the hijackers to crave death and be optimistic. "Everybody hates death, fears death," according to a translation of the document obtained by the Post. "But only those, the believers who know the life after death and the reward after death, would be the ones who will be seeking death."

The document wove practical advice with spiritual guidance and instructed the hijackers to use their final hours to ask for forgiveness, the newspaper said.

"You should pray, you should fast. You should ask God for guidance, you should ask God for help. ... Continue to pray throughout this night. Continue to recite the Koran.

"The time of judgment has arrived. Hence we need to utilize those few hours to ask God for forgiveness. You have to be convinced that those few hours that are left you in your life are very few. From there you will begin to live the happy life, the infinite paradise."

It said to "make sure that you are clean, your clothes are clean, including your shoes.

"Check all of your items -- your bag, your clothes, knives, your will, your IDs, your passport, all your papers. Check your safety before you leave ... Make sure that nobody is following you."

According to a government source, the FBI found another copy of essentially the same document in the wreckage of United Flight 93, which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, the Post said.

The document found in Atta's luggage held a recurring theme of the promise of eternal life, the newspaper said.

"Keep a very open mind, keep a very open heart of what you are to face," the document said. "You will be entering paradise. You will be entering the happiest life, everlasting life."