Germany's connection to the September 11, 2001 attacks
The 9/11 attacks were partly planned in Hamburg, via the so-called Hamburg cell, whose members played key roles in the plot. A look back at a day that shook up Germany’s approach to national security. Story by Dimaka Amobi The so-called Hamburg cell played a key role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the US: Zakariya Essabar, Abdullah Binalshibh, Said Bahaji, Mounir El Motassadeq, Mohammed Atta and Abdelghani Mzoudi (from top left to bottom right) "This day has changed the world," German President Johannes Rau said. He had watched in shock as the burning Twin Towers of the World Trade Center collapsed in New York. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on September 11, 2001, when Islamist terrorists hijacked four passenger planes and turned them into deadly weapons. Eleven Germans among the victims Germany’s head of state struggled to find the right words: "We do not know what political or social consequences what happened today will have — what we have watched unfold on our te...