SAN DIEGO/RIYADH, 30 September — American investigators are questioning Muna Ismail, a Somali woman of Yemeni origin, as they consider her holding “a treasure of secrets.” They took her in for questioning after seeing her in the company of Abdullah Mihdar, a friend of three suspected hijackers — Nawaf Al-Hazmi, Khaled Al-Mihdar and Hani Hanjour — who were on the American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon.

FBI agents arrested Mihdar in San Diego on Sept. 21. Muna was with him at the time of arrest and claimed that he was just giving her a lift to her workplace. Since then the FBI has been trying to determine the exact relation she had with the three suspected hijackers, who were reported to have been living in San Diego, and the extent of her knowledge of the trio’s activities.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Muna emphasized that she did not know any secrets and that she was just a friend of the Mihdar family. “I do not possess any secrets as the American media believe,” she told the Arabic daily. She maintained that many US journalists were questioning her like intelligence officers.

Referring to the arrest of Mihdar, she said: “I was surprised when six FBI agents, brandishing guns, surrounded us while I was with Mihdar. They ordered Mihdar not to make any move at the risk of being shot,” she said, adding that she was in a faint as the horrifying scene unfolded. “The FBI agents told the passers-by to stay away and not assist me to get up,” Muna said.

She said that Mihdar was not a Yemeni as widely believed. “He is a Somali national of Yemeni origin,” she pointed out.

Raid on Saudi charity: In Riyadh, Muhammad Al-Dhubaiban, director general of Makkah Charitable Foundation MCF), told Asharq Al-Awsat that his organization will take legal action against the Italian forces in Bosnia for carrying out a raid against its orphanage in Sarajevo on Thursday night.

“The Saudi Foreign Ministry has taken great interest with regards this attack and its officials are following up the issue with the Saudi Embassy in Sarajevo,” he said. MCF is an organization under establishment and its activities in Bosnia are supervised by the Higher Commission for Collecting Donations.

The orphanage in Sarajevo takes care of 3,000 Bosnian children, Dhubaiban said, and expressed his amazement over the Italian forces’ irresponsible action. He said the Italian forces had also behaved rudely with the guard and cook of the institution.