Planning of The September 11 Attacks - Muscle Hijackers

Muscle Hijackers

During the Summer and Fall of 2000, bin Laden and other senior Al-Qaeda leaders began selecting the "muscle" hijackers. With Hamzi and al-Mihdhar already selected, thirteen additional hijackers were selected. They were all from Saudi Arabia, except for Fayez Banihammad who was from the United Arab Emirates. They were all between age 20 and 28, most were unemployed with no more than a high school education, and were unmarried. The muscle hijackers included Salem al-Hazmi, a younger brother of Nawaf al-Hamzi. They came to Afghanistan for flight training in Chechnya. In the Summer and Fall of 2000, they were identified as candidates for the 9/11 operation, and brought before bin Laden and Atef. Bin Laden personally selected the 13 hijackers from the candidates. They briefly left Afghanistan to acquire U.S. visas, then returned for further training in late 2000 or early 2001. In late April 2001, the muscle hijackers began arriving in the U.S.