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Al-Qaeda Suspect Tells of Chechnya Link
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
(16:34 GMT)
The BBC

Prosecutors claim Motassadek was key to Hamburg cell.
Image Credit: The Associated Press.

Officials suggested this week that some foreign fighters might have been among the rebels involved in the seizing of hundreds of hostages at a Moscow theatre.

Some of the 11 September hijackers wanted to fight against Russia in Chechnya, their alleged accomplice has told a German court.

Mounir al-Motassadek told his trial in Hamburg that at least four of the men had gone to Afghanistan to be trained for the war in Chechnya.

The Russians were seen by the men as committing war crimes in Chechnya, Mr Motassadek said, and they wanted to go there to help combat them.

Mr Motassadek is the first man to stand trial over the 11 September attacks. He is accused of being an accessory to more than 3,000 murders in New York and Washington, and of belonging to an al-Qaeda cell in Hamburg.

He told the court that four alleged al-Qaeda men -- hijackers ohammed Atta, Marwan al-Shehi, Ziad Jarrah and suspect Ramzi bin al Shaibah -- had all wanted to go to Chechnya.

* Weapons training
(More: BBC Online News Source)
2002 © The British Broadcasting Corporation.

Dan