WASHINGTON, June 10: The FBI failed at least five times to detain two of the Sept 11 hijackers who took part in the attacks on the United States in 2001, according to a newly declassified Justice Department report.

The report said US authorities could have arrested Al Qaeda members Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar — who were on the plane that smashed into the Defence Department headquarters near Washington — just before Sept 11, 2001.

“The FBI’s investigation then was conducted without much urgency or priority,” Gen Glenn Fine wrote in the report, which was completed in November last year.

Several probes have criticized the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency for ignoring signs that the attacks on New York and Washington were being planned. Some also mentioned the cases of Hazmi and Mihdhar.

The new report said that in Jan 2000, an FBI agent working with a CIA anti-terrorist group had information about Mihdhar’s links to Al Qaeda.

It also blamed bureaucratic obstacles and the lack of information sharing between the various US intelligence services for hampering the investigation of the two suspects, which it referred to as a ‘significant failure’.

Mihdhar and Hazmi, equipped with US visas, moved to California 19 months before the Sept 11 attacks.—AFP