America at War: The terror pilot KILLER'S EMAIL CODES; How evil Atta

TO his professors and fellow pupils, Mohammed Atta was a model student - a quiet and softly-spoken young Muslim who studied hard and led an innocent-seeming prayer group.

But throughout his time at Die Technische University in Hamburg he was planning and preparing for his life's ultimate purpose... to lead the band of religious fanatics who committed the worst terrorist atrocity the world has ever scene.

Investigators are now virtually certain that Atta himself was at the controls of American Airlines Flight 11 when it slammed high into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8.58am on Tuesday.

And they believe that he used his base at the German university to plot the intricate details of all four aircraft hijackings, contacting other members of his suicide squad and a support team using coded emails and his college website.

Yesterday it also emerged that when the terror gang - believed to number 100 or more - first activated their operation in America, they avoided arousing suspicion by arriving with wives and children.

These accomplices - who were probably kept in the dark about the mission's true purpose - were quietly flown out to destinations around the world several weeks ago.

Experts are now searching through Atta's archived computer files for the coded messages he used to marshal the horrifying operation.

Guenter Ackermann, one of his tutors on an architecture and town planning course at Hamburg, said: "He was very good at his work and always turned up to classes. He was no trouble - the perfect student.

Atta used his faith as a devout Muslim to persuade the student union at Die Technische into helping him take over an empty barracks hut in the grounds for "prayer meetings". The university authorities even provided him with personal computers.

The hut, with the star of Mecca emblazoned on an outside wall, became the HQ for a group formed by Atta in 1999 called Islam AG.

In his Hamburg flat he did not have even a telephone, but in the "prayer room" he had access to a phone and modem point.

The university unwittingly helped him to create his own website which he used to set up a chat group. It meant that other Islamic extremists could pass him information and instructions - all under the cover of the prayer group.

On the website Atta used the pseudonym El Amir - meaning The Prince - a title also adopted by the Afghan-based terror warlord Osama bin Laden.

Despite his supposedly rigid Islamic beliefs, Atta was a regular at Hamburg drinking spot called Sharkey's Billiards Bar which calls itself "The bar with mega-possibilities."

He also had a penchant for Hollywood films on video, hiring titles including Ace Ventura, Star Trek, Vampire and a Stephen King horror movie. He died | owing around pounds 240 to a local video store and never returned the tapes.

Atta told fellow students he came from Egypt but he travelled on a United Arab Emirates passport.

Student union leader Rene Guenther said:"He was very reserved. You would not have taken him for a fanatic. It's hard to believe that inside his head there was all this hatred for everything Western. Yet we gave him everything for free. He was an ordinary fellow. But the photograph of him that's been seen around the world is not the Atta I know.

"He went around university wearing a beard and looking like a mullah."

One German investigator added "He didn't fit the profile of an Islamic extremist. There was nothing about him that would have brought him to our attention."

Atta first signed up for a course in Hamburg in 1992. He continued studying at the university until 1998 when he broke off his course without giving a reason. He later resumed his studies and was awarded his diploma in March this year. Atta had to provide his own money for renting an apartment and his day-to-day expenses. His only known income came from selling second-hand cars he bought at weekend auctions.

He rented an apartment not far from the university in Marienstrasse. Dr Michael Brock, who runs a family surgery close by, said: "We would hear them praying to Allah and playing Arabic music rather loudly.

"Atta used to come and go pretty frequently, sometimes wearing traditional Muslim clothes. There was a lot of chanting from the Koran too."

Sharing the apartment with Atta was fellow terrorist Marwan Alshehhi, 23, believed to have been at the controls of American Airlines Flight 175 when it made its fatal assault on the World Trade Center's South Tower.

He studied shipbuilding at Hamburg university from 1999 until September of last year.

Atta and Alshehhi left Germany for the U.S. in July last year and rented an apartment in Coral Springs, Florida, where they both took flying lessons.

Around the same time members of three other terrorist cells are believed to have arrived in America with wives and children. Investigators believe that to keep their cover intact they "played happy families" and even began to assimilate into American communities.Intelligence experts think it's likely that to the reduce the risk of leaks none of the women and children would have been told of the mission's true purpose.

Police say the men - many of them qualified pilots - honed their skills on jet simulators and practised banking and approaches in light aircraft over several months.

Police have now raided three houses in Vero Beach, Florida, which had been used by Saudi students. In one lived Adnan Bukhari, who is believed to be under FBI arrest. He paid pounds 1,000 a month for rent, but moved his wife and five children out a fortnight ago.

His landlord Paul Stimeling said Bukhari had told him he was a qualified Saudi pilot and had recently completed a flight engineering course

He is believed to have told police his identity was stolen and that he is innocent.

The final days saw the terror gather in Portland, Maine, and in Boston to add the finishing touches to their preparations, including writing farewell letters to their families. Atta and Alshehhi were seen last Friday night knocking back drinks in Shuckhums Oyster Pub and Seafood Grill in Hollywood, Florida.

A third man joined them as they knocked back rum and coke and played video machines.

They ended up arguing with staff about the bill. Atta finally pulled out a wad of $100 and $50 bills and paid up, saying: "I'm a pilot for American Airlines. I can pay my f***ing bill."

Police are also investigating reports that three men made anti- American remarks in a Daytona Beach, Florida, striptease bar and talked of impending bloodshed the night before Tuesday's attacks. John Kap, manager of the Pink Pony and Red Eye Jack's Sports Bar, said the trio made the claims to a barman and a drinker.

Mr Kap said: "They were talking about what a bad place America is. They said: 'Wait 'til tomorrow. America is going to see bloodshed'."

The men spent $200 to $300 each on lap dances and drinks, paying with credit cards.

Mr Kap said he gave the FBI credit card receipts, photocopied driver's licenses, a business card left by one man - and a copy of the Koran that was left at the bar.

Copyright 2001 MGN LTD
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