WASHINGTON, Aug 1: A senior official of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has informed US lawmakers that funding for the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States was traced to Pakistan.

John S. Pistole, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counter-terrorism division, told the Senate governmental affairs committee on Thursday afternoon, that investigators had “traced the origin of the funding of the 9/11 attacks back to financial accounts in Pakistan.”

He said high-ranking and well-known Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan “played a major role in moving the money forward, eventually into the hands of the hijackers located in the United States.”

Mr Pistole did not specify in his testimony how those accounts in Pakistan were funded.

The FBI has estimated that the 9/11 attacks cost between $175,000-250,000. That money, which paid for flight training, travel and other expenses, flowed to the hijackers through associates in Germany and the United Arab Emirates.

Al-Qaeda associates reported to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who managed much of the planning for the attacks from Pakistan, the FBI said.

Mr Pistole did not discuss reports that some support for the Sept 11 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia as well.