Going to bed now. ******************************************

Five on List of Suspected Terrorists Said to Have Been in Vegas

By Ken Ritter Associated Press Writer Published: Sep 27, 2001

LAS VEGAS (AP) - At least five of the 19 hijacking suspects in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks stayed in Las Vegas in recent months, the Associated Press has learned. In addition to Mohamed Atta, who stayed twice at a downtown Las Vegas motel, authorities have evidence that Marwan Al-Shehhi, Hani Hanjour, Nawaf Alhazmi and Ziad Samir Jarrah visited Las Vegas from May to August, said a source involved in the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The source on Thursday placed one man from each of the crashed planes in Las Vegas this summer.

Atta, Hanjour and Alhazmi were in town at the same time on at least one occasion in August, the source said. It wasn't immediately clear if the other men's visits coincided.

All five men are believed to have died in the crashes of four commercial jetliners. Two aircraft crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and one in a field in western Pennsylvania.

Daron Borst, spokesman for the FBI Las Vegas office, said Thursday the agency could not comment on specifics of the investigation.

"However, we ask anyone who had contact with or has knowledge of their activities in or around the Las Vegas area to contact the Las Vegas field office," he said.

Borst said the FBI had "no specific credible threats" involving possible terrorist targets in Las Vegas.

A motel owner reported last week that a man he recognized from FBI photos as Atta stayed the weekend of June 29 to July 1 at the Econo Lodge motel on Las Vegas Boulevard. The 120-room motel is in a low-budget neighborhood near the Stratosphere hotel-casino tower and around the corner from the FBI Las Vegas office.

Motel records made public by the owner show Atta stayed again the night of Aug. 13.

Atta, 33, is believed by authorities to have been at the controls of American Airlines Flight 11, which took off Sept. 11 from Boston's Logan Airport and crashed into the north tower of the trade center.

U.S. authorities have said Al-Shehhi, 23, believed to be Atta's cousin or nephew, piloted United Airlines Flight 175 into the trade center's south tower. He visited Las Vegas in late May.

Hanjour and Alhazmi, who the FBI said spent time living in San Diego, are suspected of being on the airliner that crashed into the Pentagon.

The source said the FBI was trying to account for their whereabouts in Las Vegas and said they left the city through McCarran International Airport on Aug. 14.

That was the same day Atta checked out of the Econo Lodge. The source wouldn't say if the three traveled together.

Jarrah, who the FBI said had training as a pilot, visited Las Vegas in June. He was aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania.

AP-ES-09-27-01 1940EDT

-- Anonymous, September 27, 2001