FBI names 19 suspected hijackers, makes first arrest

2.00 pm

Washington - The FBI today named 19 people, including seven pilots, it suspects of commandeering the four airliners used in Tuesday's terror attacks, and made the first arrest in the investigation.

Justice Department officials said investigators arrested a witness with "material" information. The FBI said its joint terrorism task force with police in New York City arrested an individual on a federal material witness warrant. It did not give a name.

Such arrest warrants are issued when the person has information highly relevant to a criminal probe and when there is a flight risk. The arrest warrant was sealed and the officials gave no further details.

The FBI sent to airlines and law enforcement organisations the list of people investigators want to talk to because they may have helpful information about the hijackings, US Attorney General John Ashcroft said.

At the same news conference, FBI Director Robert Mueller said the investigation so far has generated more than 36,000 leads and that agents have conducted hundreds of interviews around the country.

Mueller, head of the top US law enforcement agency, said more than 30 search warrants have been served in various locations, hundreds of subpoenas have been issued and agents have seized computers and "documentary information."

Mueller declined to say if any of the 19 suspects have been connected to organisations controlled by Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, who has been described by US officials as a chief suspect.

The list of names provided no information about the hijackers' national origins, but two of them were in the United States on visas, and the United Arab Emirates was the last known address for one of them.

The suspected hijackers on the flight that gouged a hole in the Pentagon were Khalid Al-Midhar, who was in the United States on a visa, Majed Moqed, Nawaq Alhamzi, Salem Alhamzi and pilot Hani Hanjour, who may have lived in Phoenix and San Diego.

No information was available about Moqed, but the Alhamzis were described as possibly residents in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

On one flight that crashed into the World Trade Center, the hijackers were in their 20s or early 30s, and all but one of the five were believed to be pilots, the FBI said.

The FBI identified them as Waleed M. Alshehri, Wail Alshehri, and Mohamed Atta, who were believed to have residences in Florida and Hamburg, Germany, Abdulaziz Alomari, and Satam Al Suqami, whose last known address was in the United Arab Emirates.

The hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 175, which also slammed into the World Trade Center, were identified by the FBI as pilot Marwan Al Shehhi, who lived in Hollywood, Florida and was in the United States on a visa, Fayez Ahmed, Mohald Alshehri, Hamza Alghamdi and Ahmed Alghamdi, all of whom had addresses in Delray Beach, Florida.

The hijackers aboard the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania were identified as Ahmed Alhaznawi, Ahmed Alnami, Saeed Alghamdi, all possible residents of Delray Beach, and pilot Ziad Jarrahi.

Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said the list of more than 100 people that the FBI wants to question went out on Friday, and the names would not be released.

She said names would be constantly added and taken off, and she declined to say how individuals had been identified for questioning.

The list was sent to 18,000 local police departments, other federal law enforcement agencies, the airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration.

- REUTERS

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