The government of Pakistan said today it has seen enough evidence to warrant putting Osama bin Laden on trial for the terrorist attacks against the United States. The U.S. has been circulating evidence to various country. ABC's Pierre Thomas joins us tonight from Washington. Pierre.
Peter, a key U.S. ally says there's convincing evidence tying Osama bin Laden to the U.S. attacks, and today there was new evidence of the.... about the final hours of the hijackers.
These are surveillance camera photographs of Mohammad Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari engaging in ordinary activity just hours before they crashed a plane into the World Trade Center, getting cash from an ATM in Portland, Maine. "This photograph here is Abdul Alomari. You can see Mohammad in the background there." Filling up the car at the Jetport Gas Station, going to the local Wal-Mart.
Investigators say Mohammad Atta has clear ties to Osama bin Laden, and today, for the first time, British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave evidence linking bin Laden to the hijackers. "I can now confirm that of the nineteen hijackers identified from the passenger lists of the four planes hijacked in America on the 11th of September, at least three of these hijackers have already been positively identified as known associates of bin Laden."
ABCNEWS has learned that besides Atta, investigators have tied three other hijackers to bin Laden associates through telephone records and intercepts. Blair also said one of the hijackers was directly involved in two other deadly attacks against the U. S. "One has also been identified as playing key roles in both the East African embassy attacks and the USS Cole attack."
And Blair pointed out the U.S. has received intelligence that a top bin Laden lieutenant has told associates that he helped plan the September assault. So far, the case against Osama bin Laden is largely circumstantial, but one source says it still is compelling.