Twin Towers attack planned in 2000 - prosecutor

The Hamburg al-Qaida cell that included three of the September 11 hijackers planned an attack on the World Trade Centre as early as April or May 2000, a German prosecutor said today.

Federal prosecutor Kay Nehm was announcing charges against Mounir El Motassadeq, the only person arrested in Germany over the attacks.

Nehm said the Hamburg hijackers were planning an attack on the US at the latest in October 1999 and six months later had decided on their target.

Nehm said hijacker Marwan Al-Shehhi told a librarian there would be an attack on the World Trade Centre.

“There will be thousands of dead,” Al-Shehhi told the librarian, according to Nehm.

El Motassadeq, a 28-year-old Moroccan citizen arrested in Hamburg two months after the attacks, was charged yesterday with more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist organisation.