Man linked to 9/11 attacks on US captured in Syria

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A man linked to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, who was said to have praised "violent jihad," was captured in Syria by US-backed Kurdish forces more than a month ago, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

"We can confirm that Mohammad Haydar Zammar, a Syrian-born German national, was captured more than a month ago by SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) partners as part of their ongoing operations to defeat ISIS (ISIL) inside Syria," Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon said, using an acronym for ISIL militants.

Kurdish forces said he was arrested in northern Syria and had been interrogated.

The Pentagon said the US is working with SDF partners "to obtain additional details," Pahon said.

The 9/11 Commission report, a Congressional account on the 2001 attacks, said Zammar was an "outspoken, flamboyant Islamist" who extolled "the virtues of violent jihad."

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Zammar, who is in his mid-fifties, has been accused of recruiting some of the September 11 hijackers. He reportedly took credit for influencing Ramzi Binalshibh, who is accused of wiring money to September 11 hijackers and passing information to al Qaeda operatives, and Mohammed Atta, who led the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City.

The German national was detained in Morocco in December 2001 in an operation involving CIA agents, and was handed over to the Syrian authorities two weeks later.

A Syrian court sentenced him to 12 years in prison in 2007 for belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, a charge that at the time could have resulted in the death penalty. But conflict broke out in Syria four years later, and many hardline Islamist prisoners were released from jail or broke free and went on to join jihadist groups fighting in the war.

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters