Ahmed Ibrahim al-Haznawi al-Ghamdi ( ar, أَحْمَدُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ ٱلْحَزْنَوِيِّ ٱلْغَاْمِدِيِّ, ) (October 11, 1980 – September 11, 2001) was a Saudi Arabian terrorist
hijacker of
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 ...
as part of 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 ...
. Haznawi or
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 ...
are believed to be one of the apparent hijackers to have carried the bomb.
He left his family to fight in
Chechnya in 2000 but was probably sent to training camps 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 ...
. It was there he was chosen to participate in the 9/11 attacks. He arrived in the United States in June 2001 under the direction of
Al-Qaeda for terrorist attacks, on a tourist visa. Once he was in the U.S., he settled in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
and helped plan out how the attacks would take place.
On September 11, 2001, al-Haznawi boarded
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 ...
and assisted in the hijacking of the plane so it could be crashed into either the
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...
or the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
. Instead, the plane crashed into a
field
Field may refer to:
Expanses of open ground
* Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes
* Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport
* Battlefield
* Lawn, an area of mowed grass
* Meadow, a grass ...
in
Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Somerset County (Pennsylvania German: ''Somerset Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 74,129. Its county seat is Somerset. The county was created from part of Bedford County on A ...
, after the passengers on-board started a revolt against al-Haznawi and the other hijackers.
Early life
Ahmed al-Haznawi was the son of a Saudi
imam from the
Al-Bahah province, a province in the south west of Saudi Arabia. Al-Haznawi grew up in the village of Hazna, where his father was a cleric at the mosque in the central marketplace section of the village. Al-Haznawi belonged to a family that was part of the larger
Ghamd
The Ghamd (also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as Ghamid, ar, غامد) is an Arab tribe of Azd tribe in Hejaz Region.
History
The tribe belongs to the Hejaz region, and it is considered one of the oldest tribe of Arabia according to g ...
tribe, sharing the same tribal affiliation with fellow hijackers
Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed Abdallah Ali Sulayman al-Ghamdi ( ar, سعيد الغامدي, ) (November 21, 1979 – September 11, 2001) was one of four terrorist hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks.
Born in Saudi Arabia, al-Gha ...
,
Hamza al-Ghamdi
Hamza al-Ghamdi ( ar, حمزة الغامدي, , also transliterated as Alghamdi) (November 18, 1980 – September 11, 2001) was one of five terrorist hijackers of United Airlines Flight 175 as part of the September 11 attacks.
Born in Saudi Ara ...
, and
Ahmed al-Ghamdi
Ahmed Salah Said al-Ghamdi ( ar, احمد صلاح سعيد الغامدي, , also transliterated as Alghamdi) (July 2, 1979 – September 11, 2001) was one of five terrorist hijackers of United Airlines Flight 175 as part of the September 11 at ...
.
He memorised the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
, giving him the title
Hafiz.
[Bell, Stewart. "The Martyr's Oath", 2005.]
This group is noted as being some of the more religiously observant of the hijackers, and they are thought to have met one another some time in 1999.
Early activities
1999–2000
Al-Haznawi announced he was leaving his family in 1999 to
fight in Chechnya, although his father forbade him.
His father and brother, Abdul Rahman al-Haznawi, reportedly last heard from him in late 2000, after he made references to
training in Afghanistan.
On November 12, 2000, al-Haznawi applied for and received a two-year U.S.
B-1/B-2
(tourist/business) visa in
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's promi ...
.
From November 27, 2000, through December 27, 2000, al-Haznawi was in
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 ...
for
Ramadan. It is theorized that during this trip, he may have initially told
Saeed and
Hamza al-Ghamdi
Hamza al-Ghamdi ( ar, حمزة الغامدي, , also transliterated as Alghamdi) (November 18, 1980 – September 11, 2001) was one of five terrorist hijackers of United Airlines Flight 175 as part of the September 11 attacks.
Born in Saudi Ara ...
about the operation.
Some time late in 2000, al-Haznawi traveled to the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
, where he purchased
traveler's cheque
A traveller's cheque is a medium of exchange that can be used in place of hard currency. They can be denominated in one of a number of major world currencies and are preprinted, fixed-amount cheques designed to allow the person signing it to ma ...
s presumed to have been paid for by
Mustafa al-Hawsawi
Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi ( ar, مصطفى احمد ادم هوساوي; born August 5, 1968) is a Saudi Arabian citizen. He is alleged to have acted as a key financial facilitator for the September 11 attacks in the United States.
Mustafa ...
. Five other hijackers also passed through the UAE and purchased travellers cheques, including
Majed Moqed
Majed Mashaan Ghanem Moqed ( ar, ماجد مشعان موقد, ; also transliterated as Moqued) (June 18, 1977 – September 11, 2001) was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77 as part of the September 11 attacks.
A Saudi, Moqed ...
,
Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed Abdallah Ali Sulayman al-Ghamdi ( ar, سعيد الغامدي, ) (November 21, 1979 – September 11, 2001) was one of four terrorist hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks.
Born in Saudi Arabia, al-Gha ...
,
Hamza al-Ghamdi
Hamza al-Ghamdi ( ar, حمزة الغامدي, , also transliterated as Alghamdi) (November 18, 1980 – September 11, 2001) was one of five terrorist hijackers of United Airlines Flight 175 as part of the September 11 attacks.
Born in Saudi Ara ...
,
Wail al-Shehri
Wail Mohammed al-Shehri ( ar, وائل الشهري, ; also transliterated as Alshehri) (July 31, 1973 – September 11, 2001) was one of five terrorist hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, which was flown into the North Tower of the World ...
and
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 ...
.
2001
He was one of four hijackers believed to be staying at a
Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
guest house
A guest house (also guesthouse) is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world (such as the Caribbean), guest houses are a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging. In others, it is a private home that has been converted for the exclusive use ...
in March 2001, where they were seen by
Mohammed Jabarah. Jabarah remembered al-Haznawi specifically, saying that he was "very devout and could
recite the entire Koran from memory."
On June 8, he arrived in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
, Florida, with fellow hijacker
Wail al-Shehri
Wail Mohammed al-Shehri ( ar, وائل الشهري, ; also transliterated as Alshehri) (July 31, 1973 – September 11, 2001) was one of five terrorist hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, which was flown into the North Tower of the World ...
. He was one of nine hijackers to open a
SunTrust
SunTrust Banks, Inc. was an American bank holding company with SunTrust Bank as its largest subsidiary and assets of US$199 billion as of March 31, 2018. The bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, where it was h ...
bank account with a cash deposit around June 2001. He is believed to have moved in with
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 got a new apartment on Bougainvilla Dr. in
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, after both men gave the landlord photocopies of their German passports, which he later turned over to the FBI.
On June 25, Jarrah took al-Haznawi to
Holy Cross Hospital in
Fort Lauderdale
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
on advice of his landlord. Al-Haznawi was treated by Dr. Christos Tsonas, who gave him antibiotics for a cut on his left calf. While he told staff that he had bumped into a suitcase, the media briefly reported it as a sign of
cutaneous anthrax and a possible link to the
2001 anthrax attacks
The 2001 anthrax attacks, also known as Amerithrax (a portmanteau of "America" and "anthrax", from its FBI case name), occurred in the United States over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 ...
, although FBI later addressed the rumors stating that "Exhaustive testing did not support that anthrax was present anywhere the hijackers had been."
On July 10, al-Haznawi obtained a Florida driver's license, later obtaining another copy on September 7, 2001, by filling out a change-of-address form. Five other hijackers also received duplicate Florida licenses in 2001, and others had licenses from different states. Some have speculated that this was to allow multiple persons to use the same identity.
Jarrah and al-Haznawi both received their one-way tickets for United Airlines Flight 93, on September 5. On September 7, all four Flight 93 hijackers flew from
Fort Lauderdale
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
to
Newark International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union Cou ...
aboard
Spirit Airlines
Spirit Airlines Inc. (stylized as spirit) is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. carrier headquartered in Miramar, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean and Latin Americ ...
.
Attacks
On September 11, 2001, al-Haznawi arrived at
Newark International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union Cou ...
to board United Airlines Flight 93. Although he was selected for additional security by
CAPPS and screened, he was able to board the flight without incident, with only his checked bags requiring extra screening for explosives.
Due to the flight's delay, the pilot and crew were notified of the previous hijackings that day and were told to be on the alert. Within minutes, Flight 93 was hijacked as well.
At least two of the cellphone calls made by passengers indicate that all the hijackers they saw were wearing red bandanas, which some believe may have signified an allegiance to the
Egyptian Islamic Jihad
The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ, ar, الجهاد الإسلامي المصري), formerly called simply Islamic Jihad ( ar, الجهاد الإسلامي, links=no) and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and ...
. The calls also indicated that Ahmed Al-Nami had tied a box around his torso, and claimed there was a bomb inside. Some passengers expressed doubt that the bomb was real.
Passengers on the plane heard through phone calls the fates of the other hijacked planes. A passenger uprising soon took place. Hijacker-pilot
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 ...
crashed the plane into an empty
field
Field may refer to:
Expanses of open ground
* Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes
* Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport
* Battlefield
* Lawn, an area of mowed grass
* Meadow, a grass ...
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 ...
, in order to prevent the passengers from gaining control of the plane. The crash killed everyone on board.
Aftermath
After the attacks, before the release of the FBI pictures of the hijackers, ''
Arab News'' reported that al-Haznawi's brother Abdul Rahman had told al-Madinah newspaper that a photograph published by local newspapers bore no resemblance to his brother.
A videotape titled "The Wills of the New York and Washington Battle Martyrs" was aired on
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
on April 16, 2002. While the name beneath the speaker read ''al-Ghamdi'', the image is of al-Haznawi speaking.
Officials suggested that the name was merely a reference to his tribal affiliation. The film was thought to have been made in March 2001. In it, he talked about his plans to bring the "bloodied message" to America. In September 2002, a similar tape made by
Abdulaziz al-Omari
Abdulaziz al-Omari ( ar, عبد العزيز العُمري, , also transliteration, transliterated as Alomari or al-Umari; May 28, 1979 – September 11, 2001) was a Saudi terrorist who was one of five Hijackers in the September 11 attacks, hija ...
appeared.
He has been portrayed by actors
Omar Berdouni
Omar Berdouni (born 20 July 1979) is a Moroccan actor.
He has starred in a number of feature films including '' The Hamburg Cell'', '' United 93'', "The Situation", '' The Kingdom'' and ''Extraordinary Rendition'', directed by Jim Threapleton ...
in ''
United 93'', and Zak Santiago in ''
Flight 93''.
See also
*
PENTTBOM
*
Hijackers in the September 11 attacks
References
External links
The Final 9/11 Commission ReportBin Laden tape with Haznawi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haznawi, Ahmed
1980 births
2001 deaths
Participants in the September 11 attacks
Saudi Arabian al-Qaeda members
United Airlines Flight 93
Saudi Arabian mass murderers
People from Al-Bahah Province
Deaths in Somerset County, Pennsylvania