MIDDLE EAST: The Arabic Al-Jazeera satellite television station said it has received a videotape which apparently shows some of the September 11th suicide hijackers studying flight manuals.
"Jazeera has recently obtained what seems to be a tape prepared by al-Qaeda on the first anniversary of the September 11th attacks showing some of the perpetrators of the . . . attacks carrying out technical training on controlling aircraft," the Qatar-based channel said.
Jazeera showed footage of a map with a hand pointing at the Pentagon and people studying flight manuals without showing their faces. It showed men wearing south Asian clothing and identified them as four of the hijackers of the aircraft used in the attacks.
The tape also carried what Jazeera said was the will of one hijackers, Abdul Aziz al-Omari, saying: "This is a message to America to make it leave . . . and stop supporting Israel." The alleged hijacker also praised Osama bin Laden while thanking people who supported and trained him.
"Learn \ that we can topple you [as a world power\] along with the other big enemies," added Omari, one of the hijackers of American Airlines flight 11, which crashed into the World Trade Centre's north tower. He said he was "delighted" as he recorded his last message.
The channel said the tape had been recorded in Kandahar, Afghanistan, but it did not say when or how it was obtained.
It identified the four men who appeared on the tape as Ahmed Alnami, Hamza Alghamdi, Ahmed Alghamdi and Wail Alshehri.
It showed the faces of three men sitting on the floor of a room with another man wearing glasses and covering his face with his hand in what appeared to be an attempt to avoid recognition.
The tape also included a voice over by a man Jazeera identified as bin Laden naming the hijackers and praising them. - (Reuters)