TerrorismBin Laden’s 9/11 plot “inspired” by EgyptAir flight 990 crash: Al-Qaeda
Osama bin Laden planned the 9/11 terrorist attacks after being “inspired” by a chance discussion about a plane crash into the Atlantic Ocean. An al-Qaeda publication claims that bin-Lade, discussing EgyptAir Flight 990 — which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean during its journey from Los Angeles to Cairo, killing all 217 people on board – asked: “Why didn’t he crash it into a building?”
Flight 990 flight recorder being tagged by Naval and FBI personnel // Source: commons.wikimedia.org
In its weekly al-Masrā newspaper, Jihadist group Ansar al-Sharia published an article claiming to reveal the “untold story” behind the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Two years before, EgyptAir Flight 990 had crashed into the Atlantic Ocean during its journey from Los Angeles to Cairo, killing all 217 people on board – nearly half of them Americans.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determied that co-pilot Gameel Al-Batouti had deliberately downed the plane, continually repeating “Tawkalt ala Allah” - I put my trust in God – as the plane fell into the ocean.
The Egyptian investigators insisted that mechanical failure caused the plane to plunge into the water.
The co-pilot’s family and friends said he had no strong religious beliefs, and Egyptian sources speculated it may have been suicide or an act of revenge against EgyptAir after the airline had taken following disciplinary action against the co-pilot.
The International Business Times reports that Bin Laden, then the leader of al-Qaeda, was less interested in the co-pilot motive than in how the disaster could be the basis of a new terror strategy.
On hearing about the EgyptAir crash, al-Masra claimed he asked: “Why didn’t he crash it into a building?”
The article, published by the Jihadology Web site, claims that this moment was the origin of the 9/11 plot.
The article notes, however, that it was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, described as the “principal architect” of the terror attacks by the 9/11 Commission Report, who had the idea to use planes from the United States.
Bin Laden and Mohammed then “summoned the brothers who had passports…and then sent them to America to be trained to fly planes,” the article continued, naming hijackers from American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, American Airlines Flight 77, and United Airlines Flight 93 among those to receive pilot training.
IBT notes that Al-Masra is issued by Ansar al-Sharia, which is an alias for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The U.S. State Department said the organization was established to attract more followers in an attempt for the group to “rebrand itself (and) manipulate people to join its terrorist cause” in Yemen.
