A person described as a “material witness” in Tuesday's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington has been arrested, the US Justice Department said on Friday.
In recent days, law enforcement officials said they issued 35 search warrants and hundreds of subpoenas, while interviewing hundreds more.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service also detained 27 people at the FBI's request. But Friday's arrest warrant for the material witness was the first issued since the attacks took place, reported CNN.
The individual arrested was one of several people detained Thursday at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Meanwhile, two men in Texas were being transported to New York City late Friday for further questioning in the investigation of Tuesday's attacks, government sources said.
Sources said the two, taken into custody Wednesday as they were traveling on an Amtrak train, have been very helpful in moving the investigation forward and have detailed knowledge of the alleged terrorist network.
The two men were detained for traveling without legal identification and for carrying box cutters -- the same type of weapon the FBI says was used by some of the hijackers.
It is believed the pair were traveling Tuesday on a flight from Newark, New Jersey, to San Antonio, Texas, when the plane was grounded in St. Louis, Missouri, due to the hijackings.
The men later boarded a train bound for San Antonio, but were detained after the train was stopped at police's request.
The 19 men suspected of committing Tuesday's hijacking attacks were either directly or indirectly linked to alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, sources said.
Law enforcement sources told CNN they are checking the names, which the Justice Department released Friday, against lists of people associated with known terrorist groups -- and believed the lead group in Tuesday's attacks may have been Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
The chief of that group, the sources said, is a top lieutenant of bin Laden.
Bin Laden's group, al Qaeda, is an umbrella group that allegedly coordinates the actions of smaller organizations.
The FBI said that while all are presumed dead, anyone with information on the 19 should contact an FBI field office. Of the 19, according to the FBI, seven are thought to have been pilots.
The following is the list, organized according to each of four operations, released in New York by the FBI.
It includes their possible residences in the United States and in some cases dates of birth used.
American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 that departed Washington's Dulles Airport and crashed into the Pentagon:
-- Khalid Al-Midhar, whose possible residences included Los Angeles and New York City
-- Maged Moqed, no further information available
-- Nawaq Alhamzi, Fort Lee, New Jersey; Wayne, New Jersey; Los Angeles
-- Salem Alhamzi, Fort Lee, New Jersey; Wayne, New Jersey
-- Hani Hanjour, Phoenix, Arizona; San Diego, California. Believed to be a pilot.
American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 that left Boston for Los Angeles and soon afterwards slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York:
-- Satam Al Suqami, used June 28, 1976 as date of birth, last known address United Arab Emirates
-- Waleed M. Alshehri, birth years used include 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979; possible residences listed as Hollywood, Florida; Orlando, Florida; Daytona Beach, Florida; believed to be a pilot
-- Wail Alshehri, July 31, 1973 used as date of birth, Hollywood, Florida and Newton, Massachusetts, believed to be a pilot.
-- Mohamed Atta, September 1, 1968 used as date of birth, Hollywood, Florida; Coral Springs, Florida; Hamburg, Germany; believed to be a pilot
-- Abdulaziz Alomari, December 24, 1972 and May 28, 1979 used as dates of birth, Hollywood, Florida, believed to be a pilot.
United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767 that left Boston for Los Angeles and later crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center
-- Marwan Al-Shehhi, used May 9, 1978 as date of birth, Hollywood, Florida, believed to be a pilot
-- Fayez Ahmed, Delray Beach, Florida
-- Ahmed Alghamdi, Delray Beach, Florida
-- Hamza Alghamdi, Delray Beach, Florida
-- Mohald Alshehri, Delray Beach, Florida
United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 that left Newark, New Jersey for San Francisco and went down in Stony Creek Township, Pennsylvania
-- Saeed Alghamdi, Delray Beach, Florida
-- Ahmed Alhaznawi, used October 11, 1980 as date of birth, Delray Beach, Florida
-- Ahmed Alnami, Delray Beach, Florida
-- Ziad Jarrahi, believed to be a pilot
But officials at the Pentagon cautioned that it is possible the matching names are merely a coincidence or that the terrorists were using false identities.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said Friday investigators have recovered some information from the flight data recorder from American Airlines Flight 77, the hijacked jet that slammed into the Pentagon.
FBI officials said early Friday night they received some information off the jetliner's flight data recorder, but the cockpit voice recorder was damaged.
The flight data recorder from United Airlines Flight 93, the Boeing 757 that crashed in western Pennsylvania, also was recovered. The cockpit voice recorder was recovered late Friday evening.
Among the latest developments as cited by CNN:
-- US officials said there are still would-be terrorists inside the United States who they believe may try additional attack targets in this country.
"There is reason to believe not all the perpetrators are dead or in jail," one official said.
-- The FBI has received 36,000 leads in the case, and has issued a "watch list" of 100 names to various law enforcement agencies. Those 100 names are people who might have helpful information relating to the investigation. If located, they will be detained for questioning, officials said.
-- US Attorney John Ashcroft said Friday that the FBI has distributed a watch list of about 100 people who may have information that could assist in the investigation by law enforcement agencies across the US along with the Federal Aviation Administration, airlines, US Customs and the Border Patrol.
-- The Treasury Department established a task force to track the assets of terrorist groups and disrupt their fund-raising.
-- Sen. Joseph Biden told CNN on Friday that there is evidence that several terrorist cells worked together to plan and carry out Tuesday's attacks.
-- The international police agency Interpol issued a special alert for bin Laden and said it received tips from 40 nations that may aid in his apprehension.
-- German officials released a man whom they had detained and questioned in connection with the terror attacks, the federal prosecutor's office said. German police detained the man and also brought in a woman for questioning, but found no reason to hold either one.
German prosecutors said two suspects believed to have died in the attack on the World Trade Center lived in the northern German city of Hamburg and were enrolled as students in at Hamburg Harburg Technical University. A third suspect now being sought also was thought to have been enrolled there.
The prosecutor said another suspect, thought to have died in the hijacked plane crash in Pennsylvania, also may have lived in Hamburg and was part of the same group – Albawaba.com
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