US names 'brains' behind terror

The man believed to be the "brains" behind the 11 September terror attacks was today named by US officials.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has been identified by investigators as the al Qaeda planner who they believe oversaw plans for the terror hijackings, which killed almost 3,000 people.

Mohammed, a Kuwaiti, is described as a top lieutenant to Osama bin Laden and is already the subject of a US arrest warrant for his alleged part in a plot to blow up American planes over the Pacific in 1995. He is one of 22 alleged terrorists named as the FBI's most-wanted and has a reward of £17.1million on his head. Officials believe he is in either Afghanistan or Pakistan.

One official claimed: "He is the primary brains of the plot. He is also a major player in the al Qaeda organisation. He planned this whole operation. We would like to locate, arrest him and bring him to justice."

A second official added: "In terms of al Qaeda bad guys, he's in the top half-dozen or so."

Mohammed is also believed to be a relative of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who was jailed for life for masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six people. Their relationship provides the first firm link between the 11 September destruction of the World Trade Center and the earlier bombing, when a truck carrying a bomb was parked under the twin towers.

Yousef was also convicted for his role in the conspiracy to bomb up to 11 American commercial planes as they flew from South-East Asia to the United States.

The plot, hatched in Philippine capital Manila in 1995, was foiled when one of Yousef's associates, Pakistani militant Abdul Hakim Murad, was arrested in the city. Documents and a laptop computer found in his apartment led investigators to Yousef and also to Mohammed, who was indicted in New York in 1996 on charges of conspiracy. One document, code-named Operation Bojinka, detailed the plans to bomb 11 planes, while another spoke of attacking the CIA HQ near Washington, although it contained no specific details.

Mohammed is known to have a series of aliases, and has been known to wear a beard or be clean-shaven. He uses two dates of birth, making him either 37 or 38, and is described as "armed and dangerous" by the FBI.

His naming as the 11 September mastermind comes after weeks of mounting pressure on US authorities whose intelligence failings in the run-up to the attacks have become clear.

A joint committee of senators and members of the House of Representatives has started hearings into what went wrong inside the FBI, CIA and other intelligence agencies, which have been forced to admit they ignored warning signs which could have led to the suicide-hijackings being foiled. Politicians have already warned the FBI and CIA to stop trying to blame each other. The inquiry is going ahead despite President Bush calling for it to be limited in scope and claiming it was a distraction from his war on terrorism.

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