- A farewell letter written by one of the alleged pilots
in the 11 September attacks to his girlfriend in Germany has been intercepted
by investigators in the United States.
-
- Ziad Jarrah, 26, told his girlfriend, Ayse Sengun, in
the letter that he loved her very much, and asked for her understanding
for what he was about to do.
-
- 'I did what I had to do, and you should be very proud
of that,' he wrote in his letter dated 10 September and sent from the US.
'It is a great honour and you will see the result, and everyone will be
celebrating.'
-
- Jarrah is believed to have flown the plane, possibly
bound for the White House or Camp David, that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania
on 11 September. It is thought that the passengers had received warnings
via their mobile phones that their flight was to be used as a weapon of
mass destruction and revolted against the terrorists on board causing the
plane to crash prematurely in the field.
-
- The date on Jarrah's four-page letter, led investigators
to speculate that he wrote it just hours before his death. He sent it to
his girlfriend's address in Bochum, but it apparently never arrived, due
to a mistake in the address.
-
- The German post office returned the letter marked 'address
unknown' to the United States, where it was intercepted by investigators
a week ago, according to Der Spiegel magazine. The letter is believed
to have also contained some small presents.
-
- Sengun, of Turkish origin, who is studying to become
a doctor at Bochum university, has been in police protection in Karlsruhe
since mid-September. Police were concerned for her safety after she gave
them substantial information about Jarrah.
-
- A suitcase containing aeroplane diagrams, and information
suggesting that other attacks were being planned, was found in Sengun's
flat in a student lodgings in Bochum. She is not thought to have known
about her boyfriend's involvement in planning a terror attack.
-
- Jarrah, who studied technical engineering, and specialised
in aeroplane construction, at the University of Applied Science in Hamburg,
visited Sengun regularly, and is believed to have lived in her flat for
a period. He had been living and studying in Germany since 1996.
-
- According to interviews with Sengun's friends, he had
ordered his girlfriend to avoid parties and discos.
-
- Two of the other alleged terrorists from 11 September
lived and studied in Germany: the 'ring leader', Mohamed Atta, and Marwin
al-Shehri. Two of their alleged accomplices, also previously living in
Hamburg, are on the run.
-
- Jarrah's letter, which is full of tender greetings, ends
with: 'Hold on tight to that which you have, until we meet again.'
-
-
- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2001 http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,596921,00.html
|
