Authorities probing the anti-US terrorist assault have uncovered a love letter sent by one of the hijackers to his girlfriend the day before the September 11 attacks, German news weekly Focus reported Saturday.
Focus said 26-year-old Ziad Jarrah had sent a long farewell letter from the United States to his girlfriend in the western German city of Bochum on September 10 in which he referred to a deadly mission.
The magazine quoted a spokeswoman for chief federal prosecutor Kay Nehm confirming the existence of the letter.
The letter, which was confiscated before it reached Jarrah's girlfriend, a medical student, is several pages long and written in the style of a love letter, Focus reported. In it, Jarrah speaks of a mission from which he will not return alive.
Jarrah lived and studied for a few years in the northern city of Hamburg until several months before the attacks. He has been identified by US authorities as one of the hijackers on the flight that crashed in western Pennsylvania, killing everyone on board.
Focus said German federal police were examining the letter for clues as to the planning of the attacks and the mastermind behind the plot.
The letter, which was also sent with documents on Jarrah's flight training, could not be delivered to Jarrah's girlfriend and was returned by postal authorities to the United States, Focus reported.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) uncovered the package last week.
The FBI has been working closely with German investigators since it was discovered that three of the hijackers, including suspected leader Mohammed Atta, were part of a terrorist cell operating from Hamburg -- Munich (AFP)
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