Mahmoud Abed Atta ( ar, محمود محمود عطى ) (born 1954) is/was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and alleged militant from the Palestine Liberation Organization who was suspected to be responsible for bombing a bus in 1986, on the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, killing one and severely injuring three.

Biography

A naturalized US citizen, Mahmoud Atta arrived at Simon Bolivar Airport, Venezuela's main international airport in June 1987. He was coming from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and was monitored by the DISIP Venezuelan Counterintelligence Service. Mahmoud Atta was responsible for

Abu Nidal Sabri Khalil al-Banna (May 1937 – 16 August 2002), known by his '' nom de guerre'' Abu Nidal, was the founder of Fatah: The Revolutionary Council, a militant Palestinian splinter group more commonly known as the Abu Nidal Organization ...

clandestine terrorist operations in Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

countries. From the airport, Atta took a taxi to the city of

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, State of Carabobo, Venezuela, where he had high level Abu Nidal officials contacts. After 7 days of surveillance and monitoring his calls, the apartment was raided by the DISIP commandos unit, and Atta was arrested, and transferred to Caracas, Venezuela. With all the information collected by the surveillance, Atta was interrogated by the Venezuelan DISIP Counterintelligence Department. Venezuelan Counterintelligence officials found a false bottom in his suitcase, finding 2 false US passports, and a lot of letters hand written by Atta. Addresses, telephone numbers, names, and countries of the Abu Nidal Terrorist Organization were found in the false bottom of his suitcase. Atta was deported by the government of Venezuela to the U.S. and arrested by the FBI. After that, Atta was extradited to Israel in 1990, tried and sentenced to

life in prison Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

.Jerusalem Post
Internet rumors aside, WTC attacker not held by Israel
November 8, 2001

Disappearance

Following 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 ...

in the United States it was initially thought that Mahmoud Mahmoud Atta was one of the hijackers on board the first plane to hit the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

.Anti-Defamation League
A Case of Mistaken Identity: Mohammad Atta Not Linked to Bus Bombing
, 2001 This led to the harsh questioning of US immigration authorities and the intelligence community, because it was felt that they had failed to stop a known terrorist from entering the country under his true name. However, his identity was confused with the

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

militant leader

Mohamed Atta Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta ( ; ar, محمد محمد الأمير عوض السيد عطا ; September 1, 1968 – September 11, 2001) was an Egyptian hijacker and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks in 2001 in which f ...

who was actually on board the flight. Mahmoud Mahmoud Atta's current whereabouts are unknown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atta, Mahmoud Mahmoud 1954 births Fugitives People deported from Venezuela People extradited from the United States People extradited to Israel People with acquired American citizenship Possibly living people

Biography

Disappearance

See also

References