| FBI unveils letter linking hijackers to each other |
The FBI has unveiled the first piece of evidence it has to link the September 11 terrorist hijackers to each other.
The evidence came in a five-page series of instructions to the hijackers which told them to bring knives, IDs, and passports.
The letter was found in the baggage of Mohamed Atta, in a car rented by another hijacker, Hawaf Alhazmi, and at the crash site in Pennsylvania.
The letter told them to bring "knives, your will, IDs, your passport" and added: "You will be entering the happiest life, everlasting life."
American Attorney General John Ashcroft says the documents left behind by the terrorists are "a shocking and disturbing view into the mindsets" of the hijackers.
Atta was on the first of the two flights that smashed into the World Trade Centre, while Alhazmi helped hijack the plane that flew into the Pentagon. It is not known who had been in possession of the text found in Pennsylvania.
The document was published by the Washington Post. The paper detailed how it gave a step-by-step guide, urging the terrorists to smile at taxi drivers, "crave death" and "make sure no one is following you".
As they set foot on the plane, the hijackers were told to pray and remember: "It is a raid for Allah."
It then details what they should do as the planes approached impact, saying: "When the time of truth comes and zero hour arrives, then straighten out your clothes, open your chest and welcome death for the sake of Allah.
"Seconds before the target, your last words should be 'There is no God but Allah. Mohammed is his messenger'."
Story filed: 23:09 Friday 28th September 2001
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