Suicide Hijacker May Have Taken Flying Lessons in Philippines

Suicide Hijacker May Have Taken Flying Lessons in Philippines

Agence France Presse
September 28, 2001

One of the suicide hijackers who crashed a plane into the World Trade Center in the United States on September 11 may have taken flying lessons in the Philippines, local newspapers reported.

Two employees of a resort in Clark airfield north of Manila, said they recognized Mohammad Atta, one of the suspected hijackers, as having stayed at the resort and taken lessons in flying ultra-light planes in 1999, the Manila Standard newspaper reported. "I was stunned when I saw his picture in the papers. He was the man who checked in at the resort," Victoria Brocoy, a former chambermaid with the Woodland Resort was quoted as saying.

The resort's reception supervisor, Josie Mendoza, also said she recognized Atta, adding that he was among the few Middle Eastern nationals at the resort who took flying lessons, the Today newspaper said.

Brocoy said the man she believes is Atta was called "Mohamed" by other Arabs while at the resort.

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