Al-Qaida says hjackings were first of three attacks

John Walker Lindh and other al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners told US interrogators that the September 11 hijackings were supposed to be the first of three increasingly severe attacks against Americans. Their claims have not been corroborated, government officials said.

Lindh – the so-called “American Taliban” – will be sentenced today, likely to 20 years in prison, for supplying services to the Taliban and carrying an explosive during commission of a felony. He heard some of the claims while serving in a 20-man Taliban infantry unit of Arabic speakers in Afghanistan, according to people familiar with his account.