On Tuesday, the trial of al Qaeda terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the ‘principal architect’ of the 9/11 attacks, and four other alleged conspirators resumed on Tuesday.
The five conspirators who have been behind bars at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from the past 15 years, will appear in the military tribunal for the first time since early 2019, a report by The Print stated.
The commission which investigated the 9/11 attack named Khalid as the ‘principal architect‘ of the attacks and is said to be the one who came up with the plan and proposed it to Al Qaeda. Khalid was also actively involved in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, as he had transferred money to one of the accused.
He caught the eye of the US authorities during the same time. Reportedly, Khalid has also named a co-conspirator of Operation Bojinka in 1995- it was a plan to blow up multiple international airliners over the Pacific, along with Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 WTC bombing.
The terrorists’ plan failed as fire broke out in the apartment where they were working. Khalid was seized by the CIA from Pakistan in 2003 and remained in secret detention for three years.
In 2006, he was reportedly transferred to the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
What is Khalid’s background?
Khalid’s birth year is unclear, he was either born in 1964 or 1965 to Pakistani parents in Kuwait and grew up in the Gulf state. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood at the age of 16 and later moved to the US. In 1986, he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina A&T State University.
In 1987, Khalid visited Peshawar in Pakistan, where he was introduced to Afghan mujahid Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, head of Hizbulittihad El-Islam, who took on the role of mentor and provided him military training. Khalid also came in contact with Osama bin Laden for the first time during this period.
Meanwhile, around 1988 and 1992, Khalid helped run an organisation funded by Sayyaf, which aimed to aid and train young mujahideen. He also worked with Qatar’s ministry of electricity and water as a project engineer.
In 1988, Khalid formally joined Al Qaeda and unlike Bin Laden, he was known for staying in luxury hotels and visiting nightclubs in Manila. After joining Al Qaeda he worked on planning the dadly 9/11 attacks.
What Did the 9/11 Commission Find?
According to the 9/11 Commission report, KSM helped in training the chosen operatives and collected information material for the plan, as well as facilitating travel. In a 26-page transcript released by the Pentagon in 2007, KSM claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. “I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z,” he was quoted as saying.
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