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."