Hijacker flew over Bonn military sites

War against terrorism: Germany

The hijacker believed to have rammed one of the passenger airliners into the World Trade Centre in New York had flown over military and industrial installations around Bonn two years ago, German media reported on Tuesday night.

Marwan al-Shehhi, the 23-year-old student suspected of flying the second plane that crashed into the twin towers, took two flights from a small airfield outside Bonn in 1999, choosing a route over a refinery and government offices.

Ralf Gross, a flight instructor at the Albatros Air flight school in Hangelar, near Bonn, said: "Al-Shehhi took a trial course and insisted on flying over chemical plants, the Defence Ministry in Bonn and the government district." The airfield is also used by the German anti-terrorist unit, the GSG9.

If confirmed, Al-Shehhi's trips would fit into the emerging pattern of preparations for the 11 September attack. He did not receive flying instructions on that occasion. Al-Shehhi paid DM200 (£64) for each trip as a passenger in a two-seater plane. A journey to see Cologne cathedral from the air would have taken him past a huge refinery along the Rhine at Wesseling, between the two cities. But the Defence Ministry at Hardthöhe did not lie along the normal route.

Officials said passengers on such trips did not have to identify themselves. Press reports suggested Mr Gross, his pilot, was not entirely sure that Al-Shehhi had been his passenger. But the reports highlight the ease with which the hijackers were able to plan the operation.

Meanwhile, police in Bavaria searched the apartment of an Egyptian doctor thought to be the link between the Hamburg cell of hijackers and Osama bin Laden's financial network. The doctor cannot be named for legal reasons.