9/11 man trained in terror camp

A Moroccan student accused of aiding the Hamburg terrorist cell involved in the September 11 attacks on the US went to Afghanistan in 2000 and attended a training camp there, his lawyer said yesterday.

The revelation came as Mounir el Motassadeq, 28, went on trial in Hamburg accused of belonging to a terrorist organisation. He faces more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder.

El Motassadeq denied travelling to Afghanistan when police questioned him after his arrest last year. But his defence revised that account after he testified yesterday that he last saw Mohamed Atta, lead suicide hijacker in the September 11 attacks, in May 2000 "when I planned to go to Pakistan, Afghanistan."