Dubai is emerging as a hub for investigators searching for links between the 19 dead hijackers and the organisation of Osama bin Laden.
The United Arab Emirates said yesterday that a man with a Saudi passport left the UAE for Karachi, Pakistan, on 11 September, after receiving “surplus” funds from three hijackers.The UAE Information Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zaid al-Nahayan, said three men – Mohamed Atta, Waleed al-Shehri and Marwan al-Shehhi – each transferred $5,000 from the US to the UAE two days before the attacks.Al-Shehhi, who has been named as a hijacker on one flight, is a UAE citizen.The FBI on Thursday issued new photographs of the 19 hijackers and said for the first time that some had been linked to Mr bin Laden, even though it was still not known for certain that investigators had established the hijackers’ real names.Meanwhile, US officials have released new information on chemical weapons training believed to take place at Mr bin Laden’s camps in Afghanistan.Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian who plotted to bomb Los Angeles airport in 1999 and admitted training with al-Qa’ida, has offered new information about plans to attack public buildings by painting chemical agents on doorknobs or releasing them through air ducts.Mr Ressam, who is awaiting sentencing after his conviction in the LA bomb plot, also suggested al-Qa’ida would leave a few months between attacks to wait for security forces to lower their guard, yesterday’s Los Angeles Times reported. He was unable to provide information on the suspected hijackers, saying North African and Gulf Arab members of Mr bin Laden’s group did not mix.The UAE, which is an Opec member and a strong US ally, was one of only three countries to recognise the Taliban. It severed relations after 11 September, as did Saudi Arabia, leaving Pakistan as the only country to recognise the Taliban.French investigators say an Algerian-born French national who was arrested in Dubai in July, Djamel Beghal, has been central to rounding up suspects in Europe, and is said to have tipped off French police to a plot to attack the US embassy in Paris. Also yesterday, a Spanish judge detained six Algerians linked to planned suicide attacks on US targets in Europe.In Paris, two dozen Islamist militants accused of planning terrorist attacks in France in the mid-1990s, reportedly financed by Mr bin Laden, went on trial yesterday..

A 17-year-old Palestinian youth was shot and killed by Israeli troops today during clashes in the Gaza Strip, and at least 80 people were injured, hospital officials said An Israeli soldier was also wounded. A 17-year-old Palestinian youth was shot and killed by Israeli troops today during clashes in the Gaza Strip, and at least 80 people were injured, hospital officials said An Israeli soldier was also wounded. The violence threatened to derail the fragile truce declared last week and followed up by security meetings attended by both sides. It comes after six Palestinians died in clashes with Israeli troops on yesterday, the first anniversary of the outbreak of the violence. Another Palestinian was killed when the bomb he was making exploded prematurely.

Palestinians rioted near roads leading to the Jewish settlements, including that of Kfar Darom in the center of the Gaza Strip. From this area alone Red Crescent officials at two separate hospitals said they’d received a total of 30 casualties, all injured by live bullets, the ages ranging from 12 to 22 years old. In other clashes around the Gaza Strip another 20 Palestinians were injured by live and rubber-coated bullets. The Israeli army said its forces responded to mass violent rioting by Palestinian protesters with crowd dispersal measures, including tear gas and live bullets. It would give no further information about the wounded soldier. The two sides traded blame over the violence, but said they would go ahead with truce provisions, despite deep scepticism. The cease-fire terms were worked out earlier this week in talks between Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.