Posted on 09/18/2001 9:43:55 PM PDT by knak
WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (AFP) -
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation expanded the list of people wanted in connection with terrorist attacks to nearly 200 late Tuesday, as the CIA pored over reports that one of the suspects in the plot had a meeting with an Iraqi intelligence official.
"Obviously, there is still a great deal of information to be collected in order to understand the full picture of how last Tuesday's attack was planned," US Attorney General John Ashcroft told reporters.
The updated list that, according to an FBI official, contains close to 200 names, has been sent to local police stations, border crossings and US airlines in hope of getting hold of the individuals that officials said could be helpful to the probe.
But the investigation acquired a new dimension Monday when the Central Intelligence Agency began looking into reports that one of the hijackers, who took part in last week's terrorist attacks, met with a senior Iraqi intelligence official prior to them, a US government source said.
"There is an indication that such a meeting occurred earlier this year in Europe," said the source.
The hijacker in question was Mohammed Atta, the man who is believed to have been inside an American Airlines plane that was the first to crash into the World Trade Center, according to the source.
But at the moment, the CIA was not certain the meeting "had anything to do with Tuesday's events," the source said.
Ashcroft refused any comment when asked earlier Tuesday about a possible Iraqi connection, saying: "I wouldn't be in a position to discuss evidence in regard to questions about other responsible parties."
The attacks, in which two successive planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, have left at least 5,600 missing and presumed dead.
A third hijacked plane struck the Pentagon building outside Washington, and a fourth crashed in the state of Pennsylvania after its passengers apparently used force against the hijackers.
One full week after the tragedy, investigators were questioning 75 people detained for immigration violations as they pursued more that 96,000 leads in hopes to figure out the full scope of the plot.
Administration and congressional officials have repeatedly warned that members of the terrorist conspiracy, other that those who have perished aboard the planes, may still be on the loose in the United States and could strike again.
The rumor mill, now churning full-throttle, even produced a date Monday -- September 22.
But an FBI official dismissed the report, saying, "We are not aware of that."
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors impaneled a grand jury in White Planes, New York to make in easier for them to subpoena people and documents that could helpful to the probe, according to law enforcement sources.
In Texas, FBI agents have raided a flight school in the city Arlington seeking information about a man they subsequently removed from a train in Fort Worth, The Dallas Morning News reported.
They were inquiring about Ayub Ali Khan arrested last Thursday, along with Mohammed Jaweed Azmath, during a drug sweep at a Forth Worth train station as they traveled to San Antonio, the report said.
The two had 5,000 dollars in cash as well as box cutters, the weapon used by the hijackers to take control of the planes, according to police officials.
Khan reportedly had a outstanding deportation order against him before he was taken into custody and brought together with Azmath to New York for questioning, according to law enforcement sources.
The two are being questioned in New York together with a San Antonio, Texas, doctor Albader Al-Hazmi, a radiologist from Saudi Arabia, who worked at the University of Texas Health Science Center, and has been detained on immigration charges, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Federal investigators are also pursuing a lead in Southern California, said an official without providing specifics.
But the San-Diego Union-Tribune reported Monday that a unidentified San Diego resident suspected of financially aiding two alleged hijackers -- Nawaf Alhamzi and Khalid Al-Midhar -- was taken into custody late Sunday.
Authorities were led to the man through bank accounts, leases and other financial records, the report said.
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