November 6, 2003	Thursday	Ramazan 10, 1424

WASHINGTON, Nov 5: The FBI has identified an al-Qaeda member suspected of being the 20th hijacker in the Sept 11 strikes in the United States two years ago, USA Today reported Wednesday.

An FBI agent told the newspaper the al-Qaeda agent who was believed to have tried until Aug 2001 to take part in the operation, had to leave the United States prior to the strikes in New York and Washington which left about 3,000 dead.

There were five hijackers on each of the three jets which crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York and the Pentagon building outside Washington.

According to US investigators United Airlines flight 93 which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania had four hijackers on board but was to have had five, according to al-Qaeda plans.

A Justice Department official confirmed that the would-be 20th hijacker has been identified, according to the same report.

The two officials told the paper they did not believe the man was Frenchman Zacarias Moussaoui, arrested in August 2001 in the United States and the only person charged in

the attacks, nor Ramzi Ben Al-Shibh, an al-Qaeda official arrested in Pakistan in September 2002. —AFP