Report says five of the hijackers visited Vegas before 9-11

Jace Radke

Thursday, June 17, 2004 | 9:43 a.m.

A report released Wednesday by federal investigators probing the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks points out that five of the terrorists involved visited Las Vegas prior to the attacks and reveals the dates that they arrived at McCarran International Airport.

The report, one of two presented Wednesday to the commission probing the 9-11 attacks, details when Mohamed Atta and four other hijackers were in Las Vegas.

Federal authorities have said that hijackers Nawaf al Hazmi, Atta, Hani Hanjour, Ziad Jarrah and Marwan Al-Shehhi met in Las Vegas on various occasions from May to August of 2001.

According to the report, Atta, al Hazmi and Hanjour met for some final planning in Las Vegas on Aug. 13, 2001. The report further states that Atta, Al-Shehhi and Jarrah made cross-country training and surveillance flights that ended in Las Vegas.

Al-Shehhi made one flight from New York to San Francisco to Las Vegas on May 24, and Jarrah flew from Baltimore to Los Angeles to Las Vegas on June 7. Atta made a surveillance flight from Boston to San Francisco to Las Vegas on June 28.

Las Vegas FBI spokesman Special Agent Todd Palmer said that the FBI is continuing to investigate the presence of the terrorists in Las Vegas, but the agency doesn't know the exact reason they were here.

"Our information indicates that five of the 19 terrorists were in Las Vegas," Palmer said. "That is the information that the FBI provided the 9-11 commission."

Jerry Bussell, former Nevada State Homeland Security adviser, said that all of the information he had seen prior to stepping down from his position last month pointed to five terrorists being in Las Vegas.

Local law enforcement officials, including Sheriff Bill Young, have speculated in the past that the visits from the five terrorists could have been for meetings to plan the attacks or one last party before the suicide mission or both.

Young has said that meeting in Las Vegas makes sense because of the tourist population that the terrorists could blend into.

The 9-11 commission is holding its 12th and final hearing in Washington this week on the attacks and their aftermath. Their final report is due by July 26.