Mohammed Atta

Mohammed Atta (born September 1, 1968, Kafr al-Shaykh, Egypt—died September 11, 2001, New York, New York, U.S.) was an Egyptian militant Islamist and al-Qaeda operative who helped plot and lead the September 11 attacks. He led the team of hijackers who took control of American Airlines flight 11 and flew it into the north tower of New York City’s World Trade Center.

Atta studied architecture and engineering at Cairo University, from which he graduated in 1990. In 1992 Atta, who spoke German and English as well as Arabic, moved to Hamburg, where he studied urban planning at the Hamburg University of Technology. While living in Germany, Atta became increasingly radical in his embrace of Islam. He disappeared from Hamburg for several months in the late 1990s and likely traveled to Afghanistan during this time and formed links with al-Qaeda. He returned to Hamburg and completed a master’s degree, graduating with honours in 1999. Atta is also believed to have established an al-Qaeda terrorist cell in Hamburg that included two of the other hijackers as members.

In June 2000, Atta, who had a travel visa for the United States, flew to Newark, New Jersey. He quickly relocated to Florida, where he began flight training in July. Throughout 2000 and 2001, he practiced his flying skills. He also received large sums of money from abroad and traveled extensively during those years, including trips overseas and much movement within the United States. Atta met with other would-be hijackers in Las Vegas in August 2001, possibly finalizing the hijacking plans there. In addition, he is believed to have made “surveillance flights” to familiarize himself with the aircraft he intended to hijack. On August 28, 2001, Atta purchased two seats on flight 11 on the American Airlines Web site for himself and a second hijacker, Abdul Alomari.

On September 10, 2001, Atta and Alomari drove from Boston to Portland, Maine. The next day they flew from Portland to Boston, where they boarded flight 11 along with three other hijackers. Atta and his four confederates hijacked flight 11 shortly before the plane reached cruising altitude; it was piloted into the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 am. Atta’s luggage was later discovered at Boston’s Logan International Airport. It contained a letter outlining how the hijackers should act during such an attack.