SUMMARY BIO OF NAWAF HAZMI
Nawaf Muhammed Salim al-Hazmi, born August 9, 1976 and died September 11, 2001, was a Saudi Arabian terrorist. He was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which they crashed into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks in the United States.
Hazmi and a long-time friend, Khalid al-Mihdhar, left their homes in Saudi Arabia in 1995 to fight for Muslims in the Bosnian War. Hazmi later traveled to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban against the Afghan Northern Alliance. He returned to Saudi Arabia in early 1999.
Already long-time affiliates of al-Qaeda with extensive fighting experience, Hazmi and Mihdhar were chosen by Osama bin Laden for an ambitious terrorist plot to pilot commercial airliners into designated targets in the United States. Hazmi and Mihdhar both obtained US tourist visas in April 1999. Hazmi trained in an al-Qaeda training camp in the fall of 1999 and traveled to Malaysia for the 2000 Al-Qaeda Summit.
Hazmi arrived in Los Angeles, California, from Bangkok, Thailand, on January 15, 2000, alongside Mihdhar. The two settled in San Diego, staying at the Parkwood Apartments until May 2000. While in San Diego, they attended its mosque, led by Anwar al-Awlaki. The two took flying lessons in San Diego, but due to their poor English skills they did not perform well during their flight lessons and their flight instructor regarded them as suspicious.
Mihdhar left Hazmi in California for Yemen in June 2000. Hazmi stayed in California until he met up with Hani Hanjour in December 2000, and they both traveled to Phoenix, Arizona. They later moved to Falls Church, Virginia, in April 2001, where the rest of the hijackers began to join them. Hazmi met frequently with Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the attacks, during the summer of 2001.
The CIA reportedly received Hazmi's name on a list of 19 persons suspected of planning an attack in the near future. Hazmi was one of the four names on the list who were known for certain. A search for Hazmi and other suspected terrorists commenced, but they were not located until after the attacks.
On September 10, 2001, Hazmi, Mihdhar, and Hanjour checked into a hotel in Herndon, Virginia. The next morning, Hazmi and four other terrorists, including Hazmi's younger brother, Salem al-Hazmi, boarded American Airlines Flight 77 at Dulles Airport and hijacked the plane so that Hanjour could pilot and crash the plane into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks. The crash killed all 64 passengers aboard the aircraft and 125 in the Pentagon. Following the attacks, Hazmi's participation was initially dismissed as that of a "muscle hijacker", but he was later revealed to have played a larger role in the operational planning than previously believed.
SUMMARY BIO OF KHALID al-MIHDHAR
Khalid Muhammad Abdallah al-Mihdhar, born May 16, 1975 and died September 11, 2001, was a Saudi Arabian Hijacker. He was one of the five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks.
Mihdhar was born in Saudi Arabia and fought with the Bosnian mujahideen during the Bosnian War of the 1990s. In early 1999, he traveled to Afghanistan where, as an experienced and respected jihadist, he was selected by Osama bin Laden to participate in the attacks. Mihdhar arrived in California with fellow hijacker Nawaf al-Hazmi in January 2000, after traveling to Malaysia for the Kuala Lumpur al-Qaeda Summit. At this point, the CIA was aware of Mihdhar, and he was photographed in Malaysia with another al-Qaeda member who was involved in the USS Cole bombing. The CIA did not inform the FBI when it learned that Mihdhar and Hazmi had entered the United States, and Mihdhar was not placed on any watchlists until late August 2001.
Upon arriving in San Diego County, California, Mihdhar and Hazmi were to train as pilots, but spoke English poorly and did not do well with flight lessons. In June 2000, Mihdhar left the United States for Yemen, leaving Hazmi behind in San Diego. Mihdhar spent some time in Afghanistan in early 2001 and returned to the United States in early July 2001. He stayed in New Jersey in July and August, before arriving in the Washington, D.C. area at the beginning of September.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Mihdhar boarded American Airlines Flight 77, which was hijacked approximately 30 minutes after takeoff. The plane was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon, killing all 64 people aboard the flight, along with 125 on the ground.