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| A dozen hijackers lived in southern Florida |
| 2001-09-15 |
WASHINGTON — An arrest warrant was issued Friday in the attacks investigation, a government official says. Meanwhile, the FBI on Friday dramatically expanded its search for possible accomplices to the terrorist attacks here and in New York and circulated a list to law enforcement agencies across the nation containing the names of 108 people investigators want to interview in connection with the deadly assaults. Attorney General John Ashcroft also released the names of 19 hijackers and appealed to the public to provide information about the terrorists so authorities might locate others who may be plotting additional strikes against American targets. All of the hijackers, senior government officials say, can be linked directly or indirectly to terrorist Osama Bin Laden. It is believed that at least a dozen of the hijackers were living in south Florida, seven alone in Delray Beach, near where many received flight training in local flying schools, according to Justice Department documents. Federal authorities believe seven of the 19 hijackers were pilots or received flight training at various schools in the U.S. Of the five men who overtook American Airlines Flight 11, the first jet to strike the World Trade Center Towers in New York on Tuesday, it is believed that four were trained pilots. "The FBI requests that anyone who may have information about these individuals, even though these individuals are presumed to be dead, immediately contact the FBI," Ashcroft said Friday. Separately, Ashcroft said the bureau has distributed the list of 108 names to 18,000 local police agencies in an effort to locate possible witnesses or those who might have knowledge of the terrorists' movements in the days and weeks before the carefully choreographed assaults were launched Tuesday morning. Almost all of the names on the list, a copy of which was obtained by USA Today, appear to be Middle Eastern in origin. Some of the people have addresses in New Jersey, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Ohio and Canada. "These are the names of individuals the FBI would like to talk to because we believe they may have information that could be helpful to the investigation," Ashcroft said. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |