The mastermind of the September 11 attacks has told US interrogators that he first discussed the plot with Osama bin Laden in 1996, according to interrogation reports.

Saddam Hussein may have given sanctuary to one of the terrorists suspected of involvement in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre, US intelligence officials claimed today.

RIDUAN Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, is a 38-year-old Islamic scholar who was born in Indonesia's West Java province.

THE Vatican has confirmed that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the second in command to Osama bin Laden, arrested in Pakistan last week, was the leader of a group of Islamic militants which plotted to kill Pope John Paul II on a visit to the Philippines.

THE White House yesterday praised Pakistan for the capture of alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, calling the arrest of such a “big fish” a major blow to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

The alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks used to be a playboy who liked lounging in five star hotels and once flew a helicopter over the office of a woman he was trying to impress.

The arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed could help unravel details of past and present terror plots in Southeast Asia, police who once hunted him in Manila said today.

KHALID SHAIKH MOHAMMED, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks and one of Osama bin Laden’s most senior lieutenants, was yesterday under interrogation by FBI agents at an unknown location in Pakistan, security officials said.

Osama bin Laden, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was one of the world’s most wanted men.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks and a senior operative in Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, was in the hands of US authorities today, after being been captured in a joint raid by CIA and Pakistani agents.

Police in Indonesia today said it could be days before they can question an ailing Muslim cleric over a string of deadly church bombings and his alleged links to a regional terrorist network.

MOHAMED ATTA, the lead September 11 hijacker, met Osama bin Laden at an Afghan training camp in December 1999, it was reported yesterday.

Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera says it has conducted interviews with two wanted al-Qaida members who disclose how the terrorist network planned and carried out the September 11 attacks in the US.

THREE Pakistani militants who led police to the body of Daniel Pearl claim the Wall Street Journal journalist was murdered by an Arab two days after he tried to escape from kidnappers, investigators said yesterday.

An al Qaida agent suspected of masterminding the September 11 attacks was in the Philippines in the mid-1990s, plotting terror and chasing women, Manila police said.

Clues filtering in from around the world since at least 1994 foreshadowed Osama bin Laden’s plans to attack the US, and intelligence information from Italy, Israel and elsewhere before September 11 warned that a terrorist strike might be imminent.

US officials received a warning in 1995 that Islamic militants were plotting to attack an American nuclear site and targets in Britain - but did not pass on the information to the agency overseeing nuclear facilities or to the plants themselves, it has emerged.