Posted on 09/14/2001 10:32:44 PM PDT by Wallaby
Earlier US airplane hijack plot first uncovered in Philippines: police International News Agence France Presse September 13, 2001 Thursday 11:09 PM Eastern Time MANILA, Sept 13
A terrorist plot similar to this week's attack in New York and Washington was first uncovered in Manila in 1995, Philippine police said Thursday.
The statement came amid a warning by the senate's vice chair for national defense that Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in Tuesday's attacks in the US, could try to slip into the southern Philippines where he maintains contacts with Muslim separatist rebels.
The plot called for the hijacking of US commercial airliners, bombing them or crashing them into several targets including the Central Intelligence Agency.
Chief Superintendent Avelino Razon said a plot called "Project Bojinka" was uncovered by Philippine police in 1995 after arresting terrorist Abdul Hakim Murad in a Manila apartment where he was plotting to assassinate visiting Pope John Paul II.
Murad "is part of a terrorist cell established by Ramzi Yousef under the direction of Osama bin Laden," Razon said. Both Murad and Yousef were then wanted by US authorities for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
"In the course of the investigation, we found out through a laptop computer confiscated from Murad that they were also going to implement a terrorist plot called Project Bojinka," Razon, formerly Manila's police chief, said.
The plot called for the hijacking of US commercial airliners, bombing them or crashing them into several targets including the Central Intelligence Agency.
"Murad admitted that when he was being questioned that he was being trained for a suicide mission. We were able to find out that they had some targets already," Razon said.
Murad was later extradited to the United States, where he and Yousef were later convicted for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center with the help of Philippine police who testified.
Razon said Project Bojinka had been in the planning stage as early as 1994, when the terrorists carried out a test mission by exploding a bomb on board a Japan-bound Philippine Airlines jet, killing one passenger.
Razon said US federal officials were aware of Project Bojinka and that the Philippines' crack terrorist team was continuing to work closely with them.
He said there could be no doubt that the attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon were carried out by Bin Laden's men.
"I remember that after the first World Trade Center bombing Osama bin Laden made a statement that on the second attempt they would be successful," Razon stressed. He said they could have chosen to carry out the attack on September 11, to mark the anniversary of Yousef's conviction for the first attack several years ago.
Meanwhile, Senator Rodolfo Biazon, a former military armed forces chief, warned that Bin Laden could try to slip into the country if forced out of Afghanistan and other Middle East countries amid US pressure.
He said Bin Laden was known to have direct contacts with the Abu Sayyaf Muslim group, now holding two US and 16 Filipino hostages in the south.
If the Saudi dissident is expelled by his hosts, "the possibility of Osama Bin Laden seeking refuge among his allies the Abu Sayyaf exists."
Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
Claims on the Downing of TWA 800
"September 1997
The American Spectator
Letter from John B. Roberts II in reply to an earlier one from James Hall - Chairman of the NTSB
Early this summer Hall testified before Congress that a meteorite may have blown up TWA, an event about as likely as an attack by a UFO. Apparently, Mr. Hall is prepared to got to any length to avoid confronting evidence of terrorism in the crash of TWA 800..... minute traces of PETN and RDX were found in TWA 800. Hall would have us believe they came from a bomb-sniffing dog test. But the St. Louis Police Department test record says only that a 'wide-bodied jet' was used in the test, and provides no serial number for the aircraft......As TWA's 800's debris was being hauled ashore, it was being tested by the EGIS high-tech explosives detection system operated by FBI technicians and BATF bomb experts. Within five days of the crash, EGIS registered the first of more than a dozen 'hits' for PETN on the aircraft. The FBI laboratory--whose work, even before it was subsequently criticized by the Justice Departments's inspector general, was questioned by FBI agents working on EGIS--confirmed only two findings. Do the EGIS findings mean that there was once much more explosive residue .... Whether there were two positive findings or a dozen, the dog-test explanation is almost as zany as Hall's meteorite theory..... Hall states that the U.S. lacks intelligence leads, but at least one terrorist has claimed credit for the TWA 800 bombing. World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Ahmed Yousef told authorities his group is responsible. Yousef's claim has not been made public, but it is in the FBI file. "
I'm not suggesting this is necessarily credible but apparently here that allegation made it into print.
Bojinka called for bombing commercial planes in midair, attacks on the US Embassy in Manila and assassination of government officials and foreign ambassadors. The Philippine government passed the information obtained from Murad to the US Embassy and the US Joint Task Force on Terrorism. But the US authorities were unable to use the information to prevent Tuesday's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Chief Supt. Avelino Razon, former chief of the Presidential Security Guard, lamented yesterday. At least four of Yousef's cohorts in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing have remained at large, bolstering suspicions that they could be behind the latest terrorist attacks in the US. "Basit (Yousef) had discussed with Murad the viability of suicide attacks and the need to have people die as martyrs for the (Islamic fundamentalist) cause. As such, Murad came out with the idea of flying an aircraft and crash-diving it on the CIA headquarters building," one of the tactical interrogation reports said. By his own admission, Murad lent "intelligence support" to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing by conducting an ocular inspection of the building in July 1992 on Yousef's order. Murad, a Pakistani born in Kuwait and whose real name is Abdul Basit Mahmoud Kareem, was arrested on Jan. 7, 1995 at the Josefa Apartments in Ermita, Manila. He then underwent interrogation at the Philippine National Police-Intelligence Command headquarters in Camp Crame from Jan. 17 to March 31. Murad was extradited to the US in April 1995 where he was indicted in connection with the plot to bomb US commercial planes. Suicide mission Murad, a Kuwaiti national, revealed to his interrogators that it was he who broached the idea of undertaking a suicide mission using a hijacked commercial aircraft in the US. "What Murad had in mind was that he would board any American commercial aircraft pretending to be an ordinary passenger. Then he will hijack the aircraft, control its cockpit and dive-crash it at the CIA headquarters," said the report dated Jan. 17, 1995. No bomb will be used in carrying out the "mission," according to Murad. "It is simply a suicidal mission that Murad is very much willing to execute. All he need is to be able to board the aircraft with a pistol so that he could execute the hijacking," the report said. Licensed pilot Records show that Murad was a licensed commercial pilot who first studied at the Continental Flying School in Pasay City from November 1990 to January 1991. In November 1991, Murad enrolled at the Emirates Flying School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he later earned a private pilot license. He earned his commercial pilot license at the Coastal Aviation located in Newburn, North Carolina. The suicide mission in Langley did not push through with the arrest of Murad in Manila. Yousef would be arrested later in Pakistan while a third member of Yousef's terrorist cell in Manila-Osama Asmurai aka Wali Khan Amin Shah-was arrested in Malaysia. |
Terrorist cell Based on Murad's disclosures in 1995, at least four other members of Yousef's terrorist cell have remained unaccounted for by US and Philippine intelligence services. Murad identified three of Yousef's cohorts as Mahmoud Abuhalima, an Egyptian; Abdul Rahman Yasin, an Iraqi; and a certain Assam, a Jordanian studying in the US. Abuhalima, a holder of German and American passports, provided Yousef with financial and logistical support in the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. He was with Yousef inside the yellow van, which they used in transporting the bomb to the parking area. Yasin assisted Yousef in the planning, preparation and execution of the World Trade Center bombing. He disappeared after the bombing. Taxi driver Assam worked as a taxi driver in New York after he stopped going to school in 1991. He was the one who drove the bomb-laden yellow van to the World Trade Center parking area. He went back to Jordan after the bombing. A fourth suspect is a Saudi Arabian, who provided financial support to the operation. He was arrested in February 1993 in Saudi Arabia but was later released by the authorities. His identity and whereabouts remain unknown. In his interrogation dated Jan. 30, 1995, Murad also identified a certain Abdul Majid, alias Salem, Yousef's constant companion in Manila in 1995. Majid is said to be a veteran of the Afghan War and an explosive expert like Yousef. His whereabouts are also unknown. Yousef has other contacts in Algeria and Egypt. They are his former classmates in the mujahedin training they received in Jalalabad, Pakistan, according to Murad. Yousef's terrorist cell is known to maintain links with the Harkat-Ul-Ansar, a militant organization of former Afghan resistance veterans (mujaheedin) whose bases could be found in Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar in Pakistan and Kabul and Quetta in Afghanistan. The acknowledged spiritual leader of Harkat-Ul-Ansar is Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian cleric, also known as the "Blind Sheikh," who was among those indicted for the series of bombings in New York in 1992. Liberation Army Murad recalled that Yousef had told him once that "some day the Liberation Army will grow and become independent and structured organization." Murad then speculated that Yousef was planning to form his own terrorist organization. Could it be that Yousef's former comrades, who remain at large, organized the "Liberation Army?" Razon said the attacks on the World Trade Center on Tuesday had strong similarities to "Operation Bojinka." "There's the bombing or use of airplanes. The World Trade Center attack was also coincidentally timed for the (anniversary of the) conviction of Yousef for the first World Trade Center bombing," Razon said. He said the uncovering of "Bojinka" established the existence and operations of international terrorist cells in the Philippines and the threat on the life of the Pope. "Terrorists strike anywhere at anytime. It is very difficult to stop them," Razon said. "Bojinka" was "tested" in December 1994. A bomb exploded inside Philippines Airlines Flight 434, which was en route to Japan. Filipino investigators managed to link Yousef to the planting of the bomb through a specimen signature provided by US intelligence agents. Also, a flight stewardess identified Yousef as having transferred from his original seat to the seat, where the bomb exploded, to set off the timing mechanism. The timing mechanism was similar to the device found in the Josefa Apartments where Murad was arrested. Police responded to a fire distress call in Josefa Apartments on Quirino Avenue after smoke was seen coming out of the safehouse. The police team was surprised to find parts of explosives and paraphernalia in the room. The safehouse was just a stone's throw away from where the Pope had been staying. |
See previous post.
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