Information leading to the identities of the hijackers and their possible sponsors continues to be collected by the FBI in the U.S. It is now assumed that about 50 people were involved in the planning and execution of the attacks, all of them Arabs from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Gulf Emirates. The footprints lead not only to Bin-Laden, but also to Hizbullah and Fatah, according to Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa. He said that he American Justice Department officials had told him that the terrorists are assumed to have had ties not only with Bin-Laden, but with “groups like Fatah and Hizbullah,” and that they received extensive help from Arabs living in the United States.

A number of attacks on mosques and Moslem facilities in the United States were recorded last night. Some 300 people were stopped by the police from raiding a mosque in a Chicago suburb, and windows were broken in a Texas mosque. A firebomb was thrown at a mosque in Montreal, Canada, and five girls with Arab names were attacked. Similar reports have been received from Russia.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 14th, 2001 and is filed under news.