Khalid Sheikh Muhammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, fought in the Bosnian jihad and was given Bosnian citizenship.
Two other 9/11 bombers, Khalid al Mindhar and Nawaf al Hamzi, also fought in Izetbegović’s army (Armija BiH).
Also, British journalist Eve-Anne Prentice of The Guardian and German journalist Renate Flottau of Der Spiegel reported meeting Osama Bin Laden in Izetbegović’s office during the war and Bin Laden was even given a Bosnian passport by Izetbegović’s foreign ministry.
When asked to respond to allegations that he had met bin-Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, Izetbegović’ evasively replied “During and after the war I met with thousands of people coming from the Islamic world but I can remember the faces and names of only a few.
The core group behind the 9/11 attacks was Al Qaeda’s so-called “Hamburg cell,” led by Bosnian jihad veteran Mohammed Haydar Zammar, reportedly the man who recruited Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks.
Zammar has been variously described as the “patron” of the Hamburg Cell, the man “under whose tutelage” it operated, and “a sort of surrogate father to the pilots surrounding Mohammed Atta.”
Other 9/11 participants have been reported to have Bosnian connections as well. Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, “coordinator” of the 9/11 attacks, was seen in Bosnia in the summer of 1996.
Furthermore, Al Qaeda co-founder Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, made a “business trip” to Bosnia on the eve of the US African Embassy bombings in 1998.
An indication of how secure Al Qaeda leaders must have felt in BiH at this time is the fact that in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, security officials claimed that some seventy Al Q. members were planning to flee from Afgh for BiH in anticipation of expected U.S. attacks.
(10/11) Alija Izetbegović with Abu el-Maali, aka, “the little Osama bin Laden,” central Bosnia, circa 1995. pic.twitter.com/kyTKdq9Sb2
— Robert (@robert_pandza) September 11, 2019
wpDiscuz