Jihadists steal commercial jets, raise 9/11 fears : reports
Jihadists have stolen several commercial jetliners in Libya, raising concerns with intelligence officials about 9/11-style terror strikes as the 13th anniversary approaches.
The Algerian news site al-Fadjr on Aug. 6 said 11 aircraft went missing from Tripoli International Airport during fighting between militias, IHS Janes 360 reports, but says the Algerian report was "probably not credible."
Subsequently, Mohamed Frikha, CEO of the Tunisian airline company Syphax, told Tunisia's Shems FM Radio that two Airbus-A320 aircraft belonging to the Libyan company Ifriqiya were missing from Misratah, Janes reports.
Meanwhile, the Washington Free Beacon reports that information about stolen jetliners was circulated within the U.S. government over the past two weeks — including an ominous warning that one or more jets could be used in an attack marking the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strikes in New York and Washington.
"There are a number of commercial airliners in Libya that are missing," one unnamed official told the Free Beacon. "We found out on Sept. 11 what can happen with hijacked planes."
Sept. 11 also will mark the second anniversary of the Libyan terrorist attack on a U.S. outpost in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Military groups in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt have all been placed on heightened alert because of the stolen jets, the Free Beacon reports.
