17 September 2001, Copyright © Turkish Daily News

Swiss launch formal investigation; two knives brought in Switzerland

Polls reveal Americans, British and French back military action

Pakistan's Muslim extremists warn of violent backlash to US cooperation

Swiss launch formal investigation; two knives brought in Switzerland

One of the hijackers involved in the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon bought two knives in Switzerland, officials said on Sunday.

"One of the prime suspects used credit cards to purchase two knives," Justice Ministry spokesman Victor Schlumpf said. He refused to elaborate.

The SonntagsBlick newspaper said that both Mohammed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi, who seized the planes that smashed into the Twin Towers, spent time in Switzerland during the summer and stayed in a Zurich hotel. The two men lived and studied in the German city of Hamburg.

It said they purchased pocket knives and cardboard cutters - the weapons used to commandeer four passenger jetliners Tuesday.

Schlumpf refused to elaborate on where or when the knives were brought, or to give names of the any of the suspects involved.

"At least one of the hijackers spent time in Switzerland," was all police chief Urs von Daeniken would say to SonntagsBlick. He said the man might have traveled in with a false passport.

Swiss authorities have launched a formal investigation into the extent to which the terrorists used the small Alpine country as part of their terror network.

"As an airport city, we can't exclude the possibility that Zurich was used by the terrorists," von Daeniken told the paper. "But neither Zurich nor Switzerland can be described as a terrorist hub," he said.

He said as a priority investigators wanted to find out whether there were groups of Islamic extremists based in Switzerland.

There has so far been no evidence that Swiss banks were used to fund the terrorist activities - although a Sunday newspaper in the southern Swiss city of Lugano claimed that funds linked to the number one suspect, Osama bin Laden, may have passed through Lugano.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry says 150 Swiss living in New York are still unaccounted for, although authorities say this may partly be due to the confusion. Two Swiss were on the fated planes and at least four more are said to have died in the World Trade Center.

Bern, Switzerland - The AP

Pakistani extremists warn of violent backlash to US cooperation

Hezbollah blames US policies

In its first reaction to the terror attacks in the United States, the militant Hezbollah group said Sunday it regretted the loss of innocent life, but that Washington's "oppressive" policies were ultimately to blame.

"We are sorry for any innocent (people) that are killed anywhere in the world," the Shiite Muslim group said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press.

It said that the Lebanese, who have suffered repeated Israeli attacks, "are the most familiar with the pain and suffering of those who lose loved ones."

Backed by Iran, Hezbollah waged a long-running guerrilla war against Israeli forces occupying southern Lebanon until their withdrawal last year.

In the statement, Hezbollah warned the United States against taking advantage of Tuesday attacks "to practice all sorts of aggression and terrorism under the pretext of fighting aggression and terrorism."

"Now the big question is whether what the American administration is planning really has to do with retaliating against the perpetrators of the latest attacks, or whether it wants to exploit those tragic events to exercise more hegemony over the world, " Hezbollah said.

Referring to the attacks, the group said the reason for "this level of hate" against the United States was America's "oppressive" policies all over the world.

Extremists warn Musharraf

Elsewhere, Islamic extremists urged Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf Sunday not to help the United States in a retaliatory assault against Afghanistan, warning it could trigger a violent backlash in this Islamic country of 140 million people.

"Any aggression against Afghanistan will have very dangerous consequences and we have no choice other than to support our Islamic brethren," said Munawwar Hassan, general secretary of the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami or Islamic Party, which called for protest demonstrations against Pakistan's decision to help the United States.

Musharraf's military regime has offered its "full support" to the United States to any international reply to the terror attacks in the United States - effectively pledging Pakistan's soil and airspace to an assault on Afghanistan

Now Musharraf wants to get the support of religious and political leaders and for that he began a series of meetings Sunday in Islamabad.

The emerging U.S.-Pakistani alliance will likely test Musharraf's leadership mettle and his ability to keep Islamic militants at bay.

About 40 political parties met in Lahore, eastern Punjab's provincial capital on Sunday. Several spoke out strongly against the U.S.-Pakistani alliance against Afghanistan and others proposed a resolution to condemn the terrorist attacks against the United States.

"We pray for those who died and the recovery of those who were injured," said an advance copy of the proposed resolution obtained by The Associated Press.

Beirut\Islamabad - Wire Dispatches

Polls reveal Americans, British and French back military action

Polls conducted in the United States, Britain and Frbace showed general public backing in these countries for military action after last week's devastating terror attacks.

About two-thirds of Americans expect their country to go to war and a large majority approve of President George W. Bush's leadership, said a New York Times/CBS News Poll published on Sunday.

In findings similar to other polls since hijacked commercial airplanes slammed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon last Tuesday, killing as many as 5,000 people, the latest survey found that 85 percent backed U.S. military action against those responsible for the attacks.

Among respondents, 75 percent still supported military engagement even if that risked the deaths of innocent people. Sixty-eight percent said they believed the United States would go to war.

The telephone poll of 959 adults nationwide was conducted on Thursday and Friday and had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

The latest poll revealed Americans were ready to change lifestyles and sacrifice some freedoms in return for higher levels of safety.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Friday gave Bush an 86 percent approval rating and showed nearly seven out of 10 Americans supported military action against the groups or countries responsible for the attacks, even if that meant a long war with heavy U.S. casualties.

In Britain, three in four Britons back military action against those responsible for Tuesday's terror attacks, according to a poll published on Sunday.

Seventy-five percent of those questioned by the MORI polling organization said they would support the use of force if the U.S. could identify the groups or nations responsible. Twelve per cent said they were against a strike.

Sixty-nine percent said they would support America's threat to attack countries harbouring those responsible. Thirteen percent said they didn't know.

Similar numbers backed the involvement of British forces, with 74 percent in favour and 20 percent opposed.

In France, nearly three out of four French people would support French troops' involvement in a military action to retaliate against the attacks according to a poll released Saturday.

Some 68 percent of people polled said they would favor France's involvement in such a military operation, while 21 percent said they would be opposed, according to a survey by the Ipsos polling agency. Eleven percent declined to respond.

Ankara - Compiled by the TDN

Pakistan's Muslim extremists warn of violent backlash to US cooperation

Islamic extremists urged Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf Sunday not to help the United States in a retaliatory assault against Afghanistan, warning it could trigger a violent backlash in this Islamic country of 140 million people.

Now Musharraf wants to get the support of religious and political leaders and for that he began a series of meetings Sunday in Islamabad.

The emerging U.S.-Pakistani alliance will likely test Musharraf's leadership mettle and his ability to keep Islamic militants at bay.

"We pray for those who died and the recovery of those who were injured," said an advance copy of the proposed resolution obtained by The Associated Press.

Islamabad - The Associated Press

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