Hamburg Cell
Part of 9-11 plotters
| Details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Center of Gravity | Germany | ||
| Area of Operation | Afghanistan, United States | ||
| Goal | Key organizational and planning cell for the Sept. 11 attacks | ||
| Leader | Mohamed Atta | ||
 | Core membership | 6 | |
| Alias(es) | Dar el Ansar1, House of the Followers1 | |
| Key members | Marwan al-Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah, Ramzi Binalshibh, Said Bahaji, Zakariya Essabar | ||
| Formed | 1998 | ||
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| Narrative and Notes | |||
| Reliable | The "Hamburg Cell" formed between several friends -- mostly Muslims who had come to Germany to study -- around 1998 as they became radicalized toward an Islamic extremist point of view. Members of the group would go on to train in Afghanistan and become key operatives in the Sept. 11 attacks. It is thought they were brought rapidly into the 9-11 plot because they had a wealth of technical knowledge and experience living in the west, unlike the original, veteran al-Qaeda operatives assigned to the plot, such as Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.1 | |
| Possible | Witness accounts suggest they were not entirely silent about their planes. A librarian in Hamburg overheard Shehhi in 1999 boasting there would be "thousands of dead people" in America. Mounir al Motassadeq referred to Atta as "our pilot" on another occasion.2 | |
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| Sources | |||
| 1The 9-11 Commission Final Report, July 22, 2004, Chapter 5.3. | |||
| 2The 9-11 Commission Final Report, July 22, 2004, Footnotes. | |||
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| Page maintained by John Lumpkin | |||
| Click here for a disclaimer and detailed explanation of the confidence ratings. | |||
