WASHINGTON, 30 September — A four-page handwritten letter in Arabic containing Islamic verses and instructions links the hijackers on three of the four planes that crashed in deadly suicide attacks on Sept. 11, US Attorney General John Ashcroft said yesterday.
Justice Department officials were unable to say who authored the letter, which Ashcroft said provided instructions on what to do before and during the attacks.
“Let me make clear that while this letter contains a number of religious references, I do not believe it to be representative of Muslims or the Islamic faith,” Ashcroft said. The FBI has said all of those believed responsible for the hijackings were males of “Middle Eastern descent.”
“The letter is a stark reminder of how these hijackers grossly perverted the Islamic faith to justify their terrorist acts,” Ashcroft said.
The letter, with warnings to know the plan and a pledge of allegiance to death, presented a “disturbing and shocking view into the mind-set of these terrorists,” Ashcroft, the top US law enforcement officer, said in releasing it at FBI headquarters.
“This letter is clear evidence linking the hijackers on three separate flights on Sept. 11,” Ashcroft said. It marked the first evidence made public by US officials linking three of 19 suspected hijackers on three different flights. In releasing the letter, Ashcroft said it had been found in a piece of luggage belonging to Muhammad Atta, 33, an Egyptian suspected of being one of the lead hijackers in the attacks.
The following is a direct translation of a letter the FBI says was left by hijackers on three of the four doomed Sept. 11 flights. The Roman numerals and letters following quotations are chapter and verse from the Qur’an. This was translated by Radwan Hakim, a professional Arab American translator from Washington.
