EgyptAir Crash Inspired 9/11, Says Al Qaeda

Osama got the idea from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the principal architect of the 9/11 terror attacks.

Osama bin Laden speaks at a news conference in 1998 file photo. (Photo: Reuters)

According to terror outfit al Qaeda’s mouthpiece Al Masrah, Osama bin Laden got the inspiration for the 9/11 attack from a 1999 Egypt plane crash. Osama reportedly wanted to ape the Egyptian crash in which the pilot deliberately downed his plane in the Atlantic Ocean.

According to al Masrah, when the then al Qaeda chief Osama heard about the Egyptian plane crash, he asked, “Why didn’t he crash it into a nearby building?”, pronouncing the idea of targeting buildings, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Although the EgyptAir crash is speculated to be a successful suicide or revenge against the airline for disciplining the co-pilot Gameel Al-Batouti, who was held to have deliberately downed the plane, Osama was inspired by the crash to plot a deadly new strategy. It was when Osama met the ‘prinicipal architect of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, that he was presented with the idea of crashing American planes.

(With inputs from PTI)