Ahmed al-Ghamdi

Ahmed Salah Said al-Ghamdi (احمد صلاة‎ الغامدي, ʼAḥmad Ṣalāt al-Ghāmdī, also transliterated as Alghamdi) (July 2, 1979 - September 11, 2001) was named by the FBI as one of the hijackers of United Airlines Flight 175 as part of the September 11 attacks.

Al-Ghamdi was born in Saudi Arabia in 1979. He dropped out of school to fight in Chechnya and was probably sent to train in Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. He arrived in the United States in May 2001 on a tourist visa. On September 11, 2001, he boarded United Airlines Flight 175 and assisted in the hijacking of the plane so Marwan al-Shehhi could crash the plane into the south tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.

Life
An Imam, al-Ghamdi was from the al Bahah Province of Saudi Arabia, an isolated and underdeveloped area, and shared the same tribal affiliation with fellow hijackers Saeed al-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmed al-Haznawi. This group is noted as being some of the more religiously observant of the hijackers.

Known as al-Jaraah al-Ghamdi during the preparations, the only one of the hijackers to use a variation on his own name, Al-Ghamdi quit school to fight in Chechnya against the Russians in 2000, and received a US Visa on September 3 of that year. In November, both he and Salem al-Hazmi flew to Beirut, though on separate flights and at different times. Al-Ghamdi flew on the same flight as a senior Hezbollah operative, although the 9/11 Commission could find no evidence that either knew the other. His family claims to have last seen him in December.

In March 2001, al-Ghamdi is reported to have met with a Jordanian who has been charged with providing false identification to at least 50 illegal aliens. Hijackers Majed Moqed, Hani Hanjour, and Nawaf al-Hazmi are reported to have met with him at the same time. Inexplicably, this is more than a month before al-Ghamdi first arrived in the United States, according to the FBI and the 9/11 Commission.

On May 2, al-Ghamdi arrived in the U.S. with fellow-hijacker Moqed, on a student visa. Oddly, he listed the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida as his permanent address on his driver's license. He and Moqed moved in with Hani Hanjour and Nawaf al-Hazmi in Falls Church, Virginia. All four later moved into an apartment in Paterson, New Jersey.

He called his parents in July 2001, but did not mention being in the United States.

Attack
Hamza al-Ghamdi purchased Ahmed's ticket online for United Airlines Flight 175 on August 29 or August 30, after buying his own. He listed a Mail Boxes Etc. address for Ahmed.

Hamza and Ahmed al-Ghamdi stayed at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On September 8 they checked out of the hotel, and moved into the Days Hotel on Soldiers Field Road in Brighton, Mass. where they remained up until the attacks.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Ahmed left the hotel with Hamza, the two of them sharing a taxicab to get to Logan International Airport. There, al-Ghamdi showed his Virginia ID Card as identification, and boarded Flight 175 where he sat the furthest back of the hijackers, in seat 9D, helped to hijack it, and assisted as the plane crashed into the World Trade Center.