The 20th hijacker is a possible additional
terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
in the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
of 2001 who, for unknown reasons, was unable to participate. The 20th hijacker, though not present during the actual attacks, is said to have been deeply involved in the preparations.
[ There were many variations of the 9/11 plot, with the number of terrorists fluctuating with available resources and changing circumstances. In the end, there were ]19 hijackers
The hijackers in the September 11 attacks, who were often referred to as the 9/11 hijackers, were 19 men affiliated with the militant Islamist group al-Qaeda. They hailed from four countries; 15 of them were citizens of Saudi Arabia, two were fro ...
: three of the planes were taken over by five members each and the fourth was hijacked by four people. The latter plane, United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight that was hijacked by four al-Qaeda attackers aboard the plane on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The plane eventually crashed in S ...
, crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania
Shanksville is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It has a population of 197 as of the 2020 U.S. census. It is part of the Somerset, Pennsylvania Micropolitan Statistical Area and is located southeast of Pittsburgh and west of Philade ...
, due to the resistance from passengers before it could reach its target in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Hijackers
Ramzi bin al-Shibh
Ramzi Mohammed Abdullah bin al-Shibh ( ar, رمزي محمد عبدالله بن الشيبة; also transliterated as bin al-Shaibah; born 1 May 1972[American Airlines Flight 77, but he was repeatedly denied a ](_bl ...<br></span></div> allegedly meant to take part in the attacks and may have been the intended hijacker-pilot of <a class=)visa
Visa most commonly refers to:
*Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company
** Visa Debit card issued by the above company
** Visa Electron, a debit card
** Visa Plus, an interbank network
*Travel visa, a document that allows ...
for entry into the US.Hani Hanjour
)
, birth_place = Taif, Saudi Arabia
, death_date =
, death_place = Arlington County, Virginia, U.S.
, death_cause = Plane crash, suicide
, known_for = Hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 77 (a ...
.
Mohammed al-Qahtani
Mohammed Mani Ahmad al-Qahtani ( ar, محمد ماني احمد القحطاني) (sometimes transliterated as al-Kahtani) (born November 19, 1975) is a Saudi citizen who was detained as an al-Qaeda operative for 20 years in the United States ...
, a Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
n citizen, is often referred to as the 20th hijacker. José Meléndez-Pérez, a U.S. Immigration inspector at Orlando International Airport, refused his entry into the U.S. in August 2001. He was later captured in Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and imprisoned at the U.S. military prison known as Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
.Susan J. Crawford
Susan Jean Crawford (born April 22, 1947) is an American lawyer, who was appointed the Convening Authority for the Guantanamo military commissions, on February 7, 2007.
United States Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates appoin ...
asserted that Qahtani's interrogation at Camp X-Ray amounted to torture.
Zacarias Moussaoui
Zacarias Moussaoui (Arabic: زكريا موسوي, '; born May 30, 1968) is a French member of al-Qaeda who pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to conspiring to kill citizens of the United States as part of the September 11 attacks. He is se ...
, a French citizen of Moroccan origin, has widely been referred to as the 20th hijacker. Moussaoui may have been considered as a replacement for Ziad Jarrah
Ziad Samir Jarrah ( ar, زياد سمير جراح, '; May 11, 1975 – September 11, 2001) was a Lebanese terrorist and one of the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks. He was the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, crashing the pl ...
, who at one point threatened to withdraw from the scheme because of tensions amongst the plotters. Plans to include Moussaoui were never finalized, as the al-Qaeda hierarchy had doubts about his reliability. Ultimately, Moussaoui did not play a role in the hijacking scheme. He was arrested about four weeks before the attacks.Richard Reid
Richard Colvin Reid (born 12 August 1973), also known as the "Shoe Bomber", is the perpetrator of the failed shoe bombing attempt on a transatlantic flight in 2001. Born to a father who was a career criminal, Reid converted to Islam as a young ...
unsuccessfully attempted to hijack a plane on 9/11.
According to the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, Fawaz al-Nashimi claimed to have been the "20th hijacker". An al-Qaeda video has been released from a US intelligence organization, showing al-Nashimi justifying attacks on the west. The U.S dismissed al-Nashimi's claims as propaganda.Tawfiq bin Attash
Walid Muhammad Salih bin Mubarak bin Attash ( ar, وليد محمد صالح بن مبارك بن عتش; born 1978) is a Yemeni prisoner held in extrajudicial detention at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp and is suspected of play ...
, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Mushabib al-Hamlan
Mushabib al-Hamlan ( ar, مسحبيب الحملان) was an original candidate for the September 11 attacks. He became involved with militancy in December 1999 at secondary school, when he attended gatherings to watch videos about the glory of Ji ...
, Abderraouf Jdey
Abderraouf bin Habib bin Yousef Jdey ( ar, عبد الرؤوف جدي, Abd ar-Rawūf Jday) (also known as Farouk al-Tunisi and Al-Rauf Al-Jiddi) (born May 30, 1965) is a Canadian citizen,Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Summary of the Sec ...
, Zakariya Essabar __NOTOC__
Zakariya Essabar ( ar, زكريا الصبار, ) (April 3, 1977 - c. November 2001) was, according to the governments of the United States, Germany, and other countries, a member of al-Qaeda and an associate of many of the organizers of ...
, Saeed Ahmad al-Zahrani, Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi
Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi ( ar, علي عبدالرحمن الفقعسي الغامدي, ; born 1973) is a citizen of Saudi Arabia who has been identified as a jihadist.
The ''BBC News'' reported his name was ''"Ali Abdul Rahman al-G ...
, Saeed al-Baluchi, Qutaybah al-Najdi, Zuhair al-Thubaiti, and Saud al-Rashi. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (sometimes also spelled Shaikh; also known by at least 50 pseudonyms; born March 1, 1964 or April 14, 1965) is a Pakistani Islamist militant held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp under terrorism-re ...
, the attack's alleged mastermind, had wanted to remove at least one member – Khalid al-Mihdhar
Khalid al-Mihdar ( ar, خالد المحضار, translit=Khālid al-Miḥḍār was a Saudi terrorist hijacker. He was one of the five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 atta ...
– from the operation, but he was overruled by Osama bin Laden.
In popular culture
The Saudi Arabian novelist Abdullah Thabit wrote a 2006 novel titled ''Terrorist Number 20'' that became a bestseller. The book recalls his teenage years as a religious extremist and was inspired in part by Ahmed al-Nami
Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Nami (Arabic: أحمد بن عبد الله النعمي, ; also transliterated as Alnami; August 17, 1977 – September 11, 2001) was one of four terrorist hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 ...
, one of the 9/11 hijackers and a fellow resident of Abha
Abha ( ar, أَبْهَا, ') is the capital of 'Asir Region in Saudi Arabia, with a population of 1,093,705 as of 2021. It is situated above sea level in the fertile Asir Mountains of south-western Saudi Arabia, near Asir National Park. Abh ...
who was vaguely familiar to Thabit. In April 2006, three months after the release of the book, Thabit was forced to move from Abha to Jeddah with his family after receiving death threats.
See also
* USS ''Cole'' bombing mastermind Multiple individuals were alleged to be the mastermind of the USS ''Cole'' bombing.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:20th Hijacker
September 11 attacks