Born in Saudi Arabia, Hamza al-Ghamdi left his family to fight in Chechnya and was probably sent to Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan where he was chosen to participate in the 9/11 attacks.
He arrived in the United States in May 2001 on a tourist visa. On 11 September 2001, al-Ghamdi boarded United Airlines Flight 175 and hijacked the plane along with his older brother Ahmed al-Ghamdi and 3 other terrorists so that lead hijacker and trained pilot Marwan al-Shehhi could crash the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Hamza al-Ghamdi
History
Some reports[specify] say that al-Ghamdi left his home to fight in Chechnya against the Russians in early 2000. (Other reports say he left in January 2001.) He called home several times until late 2001, saying he was in Chechnya.[citation needed][1]
In March 2001, al-Ghamdi was filmed in a farewell video that was aired on al Jazeera. In the video, many future 9/11 hijackers swear to become martyrs, although no details of the plot are revealed. Al-Ghamdi does not speak in the film, but is seen studying maps and flight manuals.
He was one of nine hijackers to open a SunTrust bank account with a cash deposit around June 2001. Al-Ghamdi also applied for and received a Florida driver's license on 27 June 2001. In the next two months, he obtained two duplicate licenses simply by filling out change-of-address forms. Five other suspected hijackers also received duplicate Florida licenses in 2001, and others had licenses in different states. Some have speculated that this was to allow multiple people to use the same identity.[3]
Attacks
Al-Ghamdi purchased his own eTicket for Flight 175 on 29 August, using his Visa card. The FBI claimed that he also purchased an eTicket for a "Flight 7950" from Los Angeles to San Francisco, although it does not give the projected date of flight.[4]
On the morning of 11 September 2001, Hamza al-Ghamdi left the hotel with his brother. The two men shared a taxicab ride to Logan International Airport, where they boarded Flight 175. The brothers pushed the passengers and crew to the back of the plane while Fayez Banihammad and al-Shehri killed pilots Victor Saracini and Michael Horrocks, allowing al-Shehhi to take control of the plane.[citation needed]
Aftermath
On 22 September 2001, Arab News reported that Hamza al-Ghamdi's father told the Al-Watan newspaper that an "FBI-released" photograph bore absolutely no resemblance to his son.[6] However, the picture al-Ghamdi's father refers to is assumed to have not been a picture released by the FBI, as they did not make the hijacker's pictures available until 27 September 2001.[7]
He appeared in a video released on 8 September 2006, that showed the planning of the attacks.[8]