Portions of a videotape that U.S. and Spanish authorities said was used by al Qaeda to prepare for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center were broadcast on Monday by ABC News. The 29-minute tape, time-stamped Aug. 31, 1997, looks like a tourist video but was shot by an al Qaeda surveillance team sent from Spain to scout targets, ABC reported, citing authorities. The video, obtained by the network, shows both towers of the World Trade Center, along with the lobby and observation deck of the South Tower, the antennas on top of the North Tower and close-ups of the building structure. The videotape includes a view of the Hudson River, the same path taken by the two hijacked planes that slammed into the towers on Sept. 11, killing about 3,000 people. Authorities said the video was shot by Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, a Syrian national who was arrested in a raid on a suspected al Qaeda logistics cell in Madrid in 2002, ABC reported. The report said Ghalyoun has been charged in Spain’s investigation of the Madrid cell but was currently free on bail. On the videotape, Ghalyoun and another man are heard discussing the footage in Arabic. “We are at the twin towers of Manhattan. This is the inside of one of the twins, the entrance,” one of them is heard saying, according to the report. Full Story
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