Hijacker ‘hatched September 11 plan in 1996’

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.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed also divulged that, in its final stages, the hijacking plan called for as many as 22 terrorists and four planes in a first wave, followed by a second wave of suicide hijackings that were to be aided possibly by al-Qaida allies in Southeast Asia, according to the reports.

Over time, bin Laden scrapped various parts of the September 11 plan, including attacks on both coasts and hijacking or bombing some planes in East Asia, Mohammed is quoted as saying in reports that shed new light on the origins and evolution of the plot of September 11, 2001.