Operation Bojinka

Operation Bojinka (also known as Project Bojinka) (Bojinka, Arabic: بجنكة; the word means "explosion") was a project developed by Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, two members of Al Qaeda to carry out a large-scale terrorist attack prior to the attacks of September 11. The Bojinka Project was discovered after a chemical fire caught the attention of Philippine police on January 6 and 7, but some lessons learned helped 9/11 planners.

Terrorists planned to destroy eleven planes on routes between Asia and the United States when they flew over the Pacific Ocean to cause some 4,000 fatalities, kill Pope John Paul II during his visit to celebrate World Youth Day of Manila in 1995, and crashing a plane against the CIA building in Langley, Virginia, all this was intended to be carried out between January 15 and 22, 1995. The plot was discovered by police officers from Manila (Philippines), who they aborted the project on January 6, 1995.

Ramzi Yousef, head of operation

The attack on Philippine Airlines Flight 434 is considered part of the operation, in which a bomb exploded while the plane was heading from Manila (Philippines) to the Tokyo-Narita airport, with a stopover in the city of Cebu, the detonation caused the death of a passenger and injuries to ten others, the attack was a test prior to the development of the massive plan, since it sought to verify the effectiveness of the explosives that would be used.

Operation planning

The funds for the operation were provided directly by Osama bin Laden and Riduan Isamuddin, together with organizations operated by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden's brother-in-law. The financier of the terrorists was Wali Khan Amin Shah, an Afghan resident in Manila who started a money laundering operation with the help of his girlfriend and other women living in the city. The financier of the project was able to open accounts in the name of other people through gifts or vacations. There was also the assistance of a company called Konsojaya that allowed financial assistance and money laundering to the terrorist cell.

Money transfers were made in small amounts of between 12,000 and 24,000 Philippine pesos (between 500 and 1,000 dollars at the time), the funds were directed to the name of a person named "Adam Sali", alias used by Ramzi Yousef who collected the account in a Philippine bank in the name of Omar Abu Omar, a Jordanian who worked at the Center for International Relations and Information, an Islamic organization managed by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa.

Yousef, who had been responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center attack, was commissioned to start the terrorist cell in Manila along with other Afghans who had arrived in the country after meeting with Amin Shah in Singapore in early 1994.

At first Yousef had decided to leave the city of Manila, but upon his return he was received by emissaries of bin Laden who asked him to attack the then President of the United States, Bill Clinton, who would arrive in the city on the 12th November as part of an Asia tour. Yousef thought of different ways to carry out the objective, but they were all discarded due to the difficulty of carrying them out, however, this motivated Pope John Paul II to be included in the list of objectives.

Location of the Philippines.

In late 1994, Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohamed began testing airport security. Yousef booked a flight between Hong Kong's Kai Tak International Airport and Taiwan's Taiyuan International Airport near Taipei. Mohamed booked a flight between Ninoy Aquino International Airport near Manila and Gimpo International Airport near Seoul. The two had already turned fourteen bottles of contact lens solution, which was readily available in the Philippines, into bottles containing nitroglycerin. Yousef had glued a metal rod to the arch of his foot, which would serve as a detonator. The two wore jewelry and metal-studded clothing to confuse airport security. To back up their claim that they were meeting women, they packed condoms in their bags.

In December, the Pakistani Abdul Hakim Murad arrived in Manila to meet with Yousef and continue with the preparations. On December 8, the two members moved to the Doña Josefa Apartments, Yousef was in charge of the paperwork under the alias "Najy Awaita Haddad". At the time of registration a possible mistake was made since he filled out a second form, the managers of the housing complex believed that he had made a typographical error, when in fact he had written his real name on the first form, after paying the rental fees they occupied Apartment 603. The departmental complex was located about 200 meters from the Apostolic Nunciature of Manila and half a kilometer from police station number 9, the apartment became the place chosen for the preparation of the attacks. The occupants they aroused the suspicions of the residents of the complex because they were people with very secret attitudes and they used to carry boxes without asking anyone for help, the administration people thought they were students, when in fact they made bombs and transported chemicals purchased from suppliers in Manila and Quezon City.

Test attacks

Due to the complexity of the attack, the terrorist cell determined to carry out a series of attacks as a form of evidence. The first of these was carried out at the end of November in a shopping mall in Cebu City. A small nitroglycerin device was placed in a generator room, causing minor damage but demonstrating to Yousef that the explosives they made worked and were fit for use.

On December 1, 1994, the second preparatory attack was carried out, Amin Shah placed a bomb under a seat in the Greenbelt Theater in Manila, with the aim of testing the behavior of the bomb in the case of being placed under the seat of an airplane, the device exploded causing injuries to several customers.

Philippine Airlines Flight 434

The third test was carried out on December 11, Yousef boarded a flight between Manila Airport and Tokyo-Narita Airport with a stopover at the Mactan-Cebu air terminal, the attacker planted the bomb inside a vest life jacket located under his seat (26K), after which he left the aircraft during the layover in Cebu. Yousef boarded the flight under the name 'Arnaldo Forlani', using a fake Italian passport, programmed the bomb to explode four hours after it was planted, expecting it to detonate as it flew over the sea, however the aircraft was affected by a 38-minute delay at the airport.

Flight 434 after the attack.

The bomb exploded as the plane was flying over the island of Minami Daitō in Okinawa Prefecture. A 24-year-old Japanese sewing machine maker named Haruki Ikegami was killed in the blast while occupying Seat 26K in Cebu, 10 other people were injured. The terrorist planted the device in the place, believing that it was on the fuel tank, as is usual in Boeing 747s, which would cause the plane to explode in two even if the explosion was not so powerful, without However, this device was previously used by the Scandinavian airline SAS and had a different seating configuration than usual, so the 26K place was located two rows ahead of the jet fuel tank. The explosive device caused damage as it tore off a 0.2 m² (two square foot) portion of the cabin floor, however the aircraft's fuselage remained intact. On the other hand, the 38-minute take-off delay from Cebu meant that the plane was not that far from the coast, which contributed to the emergency landing. The pilot team took control of the plane and was able to make a landing. emergency at Naha Airport where the rest of the passengers and crew were evacuated. After observing the operation of his pump, Yousef decided to start with the second stage.

Phase I: Conspiracy to assassinate John Paul II

The first phase of the terrorist plan consisted of assassinating Pope John Paul II during his visit to the Philippines as part of World Youth Day 1995. On January 15, a suicide bomber disguised himself as a Catholic priest and blew himself up to the passage of the caravan of the Supreme Pontiff that would go to the San Carlos Seminary located in the city of Macati. The attack would serve as a diversion to adequately plan the second phase of the operation. It is said that Yousef had trained about 20 men to achieve his goal.

Phase II: Plot to attack commercial aircraft

The details of the second phase were revealed during investigations in Apartment 603 of the Doña Josefa building.

The second plan involved at least five terrorists: Yousef, Amin Shah, Murad and two other unknown attackers. The attacks would take place between January 21 and 22, 1995, the attackers would place bombs on eleven US airline passenger planes bound for that North American country, the objectives would stop at different points in Southeast Asia and East Asia. All chosen flights had at least two flight phases. The explosive devices were going to be placed under the seats hidden in life jackets, replicating the attack mode of Philippine Airlines Flight 434, all the attackers would get off the plane at the first stopover to later take flights to Lahore (Pakistan). The process implied that the men would not need a US visa because the process would be carried out exclusively on Asian soil.

The terrorists chose only US airlines instead of Asian airlines in order to increase the shock effect on the US population. The chosen flights were renamed with code names: "Zyed", "Majbos", "Markoa", "Mirqas" and "Obaid". The latter referred to Abdul Hakim Murad who, after placing the device on a first flight, would fly to Singapore to attack another belonging to United Airlines.

Reports indicate that "Zyed," was a name probably referring to Ramzi Yousef, who would attack three planes: Northwest Flight 30, a United flight between Taipei and Honolulu, as well as another plane of the same airline that served the Bangkok - Taipei - San Francisco route.

The explosions had to be programmed by the attackers before descending on the plane. The devices must have exploded when the aircraft were flying over the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. If the plan had been successful, probably several thousand people would have died and air traffic around the world could have been shut down entirely. The FBI estimates that it could have caused around 4,000 victims, which would have made it the deadliest terrorist attack in recent history, even exceeding the number of those affected by 9/11.

Pump used

The explosive devices were microbombs called "Mark II" that they would have Casio digital watches as timers, stabilizers resembling cotton balls, and an unknown amount of nitroglycerin functioning as an explosive. They would also include other ingredients such as glycerin, nitrate, sulfuric acid, and small concentrations of nitrobenzene, silver azide, and liquid acetone. Two 9 volt batteries would be used for each pump as a power source. The batteries would be connected to bulb filaments that would serve to detonate the explosive charge. In addition there would be an external socket that would be hidden when the terrorist pushed the wires under the base of the clock. The modification of the clock was minimal, it could even continue to function normally.

In the Flight 434 attack, Yousef used a similar explosive device, the batteries were obtained after passing airport security controls and hidden in the heels of his shoes, while nitroglycerin was brought on board as contraband after concealing it in a container containing contact lens cleaning solution.

Planned target airports

In Asia

• Kai Tak International Airport in Hong Kong (closed on July 6, 1998)
• New Tokyo International Airport (renamed later as Narita International Airport) in Tokyo, Japan.
• Ninoy International Airport Aquinas in Pásay / Parañaque, near Manila, Philippines.
• Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, near Taipei, Taiwan.
• Singapore-Changi Airport in Singapore.
• Gimpo International Airport, near Seoul, South Korea.
• Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand.

In the United States

• Honolulu International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii.
• John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
• Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California.
• O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois.
• San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California.

Targeted flights

• Dennis Piszkiewicz, author of the book Terrorism's War with America: A History He pointed out that "Zyed", was probably the key name of Ramzi Yousef. Who would attack flights: Manila - Seoul - Los Angeles from Northwest Airlines; another device on the Seoul - Taipei - Honolulu route from United and a second plane from the same company with the Taipéi - Bangkok - San Francisco itinerary. After arriving in the capital of Thailand, Zyed would take a flight to Karachi (Pakistan).
• The person with a key name "Majbos" would attack the Taipei - Tokyo - Los Angeles de United flight, would come down in Tokyo to take another flight on the Tokyo - Hong Kong - New York route from the same airline, eventually descend from the aircraft in Hong Kong to head to Karachi.
• Another terrorist with the "Maroka" code would be responsible for placing the bombs on the Northwest flight with Manila - Tokyo - Chicago route, would descend in the capital of Japan to take a flight with the Tokyo - Hong Kong - New York itinerary of the same airline, eventually disembark in Hong Kong to go to the city of Karachi.
• The next member of the cell, with the nickname "Mirqas" would attack a United flight on the Manila - Seoul - San Francisco route, in the capital of South Korea would descend from the apparatus to take a Delta Air Lines plane that would make the Seoul - Taipei - Bangkok trip. After descending in Taiwan he would escape to the city of Karachi.
• Finally, an attacker with the name "Oblaida" would attack two flights from United. The first would make the route Singapore - Hong Kong - Los Angeles and the second initially made the reverse route, but when arriving in Singapore it would take the route Singapore - Hong Kong - San Francisco. Upon reaching the Oblate state would escape to Pakistan.

Phase III: CIA Plane Crash Plan

Phase III of the operation was detailed by Abdul Hakim Murad in a confession made to the Manila Police, which was released on June 3 by the Australian newspaper The Advertiser.

Original building of the CIA headquarters.

Murad would be implicated in carrying out the attack whose first step consisted of renting, buying or hijacking a small aircraft, preferably a Cessna. The airplane would be filled with explosives to later be crashed against the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley (Virginia). Murad had been trained as an air pilot in North Carolina and would probably have served as a suicide pilot.

There was an alternative plan, which would imply the attack on a twelfth commercial airplane that would be hijacked to direct it to its objective, this idea arose as a consequence of the problems that the explosives tests had given in Manila. Khalid Sheikh Mohamed would be in charge of carrying out this alternative option.

The Philippine government sent a first report to the United States on January 20, 1995, the memorandum stated: "What the subject has in his mind is that he will board any US commercial aircraft pretending to be a ordinary passenger. Then he will hijack said plane, take control of the cockpit from it and crash into the CIA headquarters.

Another plot would imply the hijacking of ten commercial airplanes in the United States that could be directed towards targets such as the World Trade Center (New York City), The Pentagon (Arlington, Virginia), the United States Capitol, the White House (both in Washington D.C.), the CIA and FBI headquarters, the Sears Tower (Chicago, Illinois), the U.S. Bank Tower (Los Angeles, California), the Columbia Center (in Seattle, Washington) and some nuclear plants on US soil. In his statement, Murad assured that the plan had been abandoned because he could not get enough recruits willing to commit such a mission. However, this phase of the plot became the basis for the attacks of September 11, 2001, which involved the hijacking of commercial flights (instead of small aircraft loaded with explosives) which were directed against the World Trade Center (which was totally destroyed) and The Pentagon (which suffered partial damage).

Discovery and cancellation of the Operation

On the afternoon of January 6, 1995, a fire broke out in the Doña Josefa Apartment complex, just 6 days before the start of Pope John Paul II's visit to Manila. This fact caused the terrorists to abort the attack plan.

According to Manila police reports, the fire started around 6 p.m., when Abdul Hakim Murad started a chemical fire by pouring water on a substance that was in the kitchen sink of Apartment 603, located in the sixth floor of the block of flats. Around 11:00 p.m. m. the neighbors complained about a strange smell, the building administrator called the local fire brigade, however the smell and the fire drew the attention of the police force, which had an office 500 meters from the place where the terrorists were occupying. The first search operation was canceled because a phone began to ring, prompting officers to flee, believing it to be a booby trap. In September 2002, a Los Angeles Times reporter noted that the fire in the apartment had been provoked by police officers, who infiltrated the place with the intention of causing the terrorists to leave.

As a consequence of the police operation, a man calling himself "Ahmed Saeed" was arrested, who was later discovered to be Abdul Hakim Murad, in his initial statement the terrorist explained to the police Filipina who was an airline pilot who was on vacation, and was going to the apartment to explain that it had been a firecracker explosion. Murad initially tried to escape, but was arrested after tripping over a tree root. The Pakistani was taken to the police station, during the trip he offered the police an amount of 110,740 Philippine pesos (about 2,000 US dollars) in exchange for his freedom. At the police headquarters, Murad signed a statement where he assured his innocence, alleging that he was a tourist visiting a friend engaged in the business of importing and exporting chemicals. Police sources say that after signing the document he muttered the phrase "two satans must be destroyed: the Pope and America".

Search and collection of evidence in Apartment 603

At 2:30 a.m. on January 7, Manila police forces led by Commander Francisco F. Bautista and surveillance commander Aida D. Fariscal returned to the apartment and began searching the place in Searching for evidence, they found a whole series of incriminating objects: chemical compounds; measuring apparatus such as thermometers, timers and funnels; photographs of Pope John Paul II; crucifixes and priest's clothing. These items, along with a recording of a voice message left on the phone that spoke of a cassock "ready for evidence" and the imminent arrival of the Pontiff in the country, helped Bautista to be sure that he had avoided a plan to assassinate the leader of the Catholic Church.

At 4:00 in the morning, the security forces managed to obtain a warrant to search and search the apartment, previously they had tried to obtain the permit on some 11 previous occasions since Fariscal suspected the inhabitants of the place and he related them to the recent wave of attacks that affected the Greater Manila area and the attack on Flight 434, some of them committed by Ramzi Yousef.

The search of the house continued and authorities found more chemicals including sulfuric, picric and nitric acids, sodium chlorate, nitrobenzol, ammonia, silver nitrate, methamphetamine and ANFO. They also found two large gasoline cans and juice bottles where nitroglycerin was kept. Equipment such as thermometers, test tubes, large cooking kettles, funnels, fuses, filters, soldering irons, beakers, mortars, batteries, different electronic fuse systems, timers, switches and circuit breakers. A remote-controlled brass pipe bomb was also discovered in the search, as well as another pipe bomb that was about to be packaged. The apartment also contained a chemistry textbook and chemical dictionary, a Time magazine whose cover dealt with international terrorism, a pharmacy receipt and a bottle of contact lens solution were discovered. A finished time bomb and other Casio watches were found in a cabinet under the dishwasher.

However, the most conclusive evidence was the discovery of a manual written in Arabic describing how to make a liquid bomb.

Police also discovered a stack of 12 fake Norwegian, Saudi and Pakistani passports. Investigators also found a business card belonging to Mohammed Jamal Khalifa; It is said that Saeed had a list with at least five telephone numbers belonging to Khalifa, and a number belonging to Rose Masquera, Mohammed's girlfriend, was also found.

Yousef's computer

Yousef's project was discovered on four floppy disks and a Toshiba laptop found in his apartment, the discovery being made two weeks before phase II of the operation was set to begin. Several encrypted files on the laptop's hard drive contained flight schedules, detonation time calculations, and other items. The first text string in one of the files read: "All people who support the United States government they are our targets in our future plans and that is because all those people are responsible for the actions of their government and support US foreign policy. If the US government continues to support Israel, then we will continue to carry out operations inside and outside from the United States to include... " the text ended in that sentence.

A file called "Bojinka" where eleven flights between Asia and the United States were listed, which were grouped into five code names, strings of words were found such as:

"SETTING: 9:30 pm to 10:30 pm TIMER: 23HR. BOJINKA: 20:30-21:30 NRT Date 5", and "SETTING: 8:30-9:00. TIMER: 10HR. BOJINKA: 19:30-20:00 NRT Date 4

The codes possibly referred to United Flight 80 and Northwest Flight 30.

The laptop had names of dozens of associates, including some photos of some of them and contact information for Mohammed Jamal Khalifa. They also found records of information on five-star hotels, dealings with a London business corporation, a meat market owner in Malaysia and an Islamic center in Tucson, Arizona. Information was found on how the money moved through an Abu Dhabi banking firm.

A communication signed "Khalid Shaikh + Bojinka" it was also found on the computer of Yousef who threatened to attack targets "in response to the financial, political and military aid given to the Jewish state in the occupied land of Palestine by the United States Government". The letter also stated that the terrorists claimed to have "capability to manufacture and use chemicals and poison gas...for use against institutions, vital populations and sources of drinking water".

The letter also threatened to assassinate Fidel V. Ramos, the president of the Philippines at the time, as well as attack planes if the United States did not comply with the group's demands. The letter stated that the group claiming responsibility was the "Fifth Division of the Liberation Army"

Evidence found in the Doña Josefa Apartment Building filled three police vans.

Search and capture those responsible

Wali Khan Amin Shah was arrested at an apartment complex on January 11, after police saw that a pager that had been called by Yousef was registered in the name of Shah's girlfriend. The detainee escaped from his custody some 77 hours later. Shah turned out to be a conspirator after authorities saw photos of him scanned from the laptop that contained information about the plot, as well as cell phone numbers leading investigators to the apartment. Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were able to escape from the Philippines to Pakistan. On January 31, 1995, Yousef flew from Pakistan to Thailand in an attempt to plant suitcase bombs on Delta and United Airlines planes. After failing, he returned to Pakistan.

After receiving Murad's phone call, Yousef made plans to leave and flew to Singapore about five hours after Murad's arrest. One day after the Bojinka operation was discovered, Yousef headed for Pakistan. Mohammed escaped to Pakistan, not knowing exactly how many days or weeks later.

The Philippines sent details about the Bojinka operation to the United States in April 1995. Konsojaya's top leadership was eavesdropped on wiretaps, suspected of being in frequent contact with Mohammed Jamal Khalifa's charity, the intervention phone call lasted until the plot was discovered.

Yousef was arrested at the Su-Casa guest house in Islamabad, Pakistan, on February 7, 1995, by agents of the United States Diplomatic Security Service, after a 23-day manhunt. Wali Khan Amin Shah, the financier, was arrested in Malaysia in December 1995. His identity was revealed after his fingerprints were taken. Shah was also extradited to the United States.

All three conspirators received life sentences for participating in the conspiracy. Yousef was also sentenced to 240 years in prison in conjunction with his life sentence for committing the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Yousef was sentenced on January 8, 1998, and Murad was sentenced on May 16 of the same year. Shah began cooperating with the government in August 1998.

Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, a Saudi businessman from Jeddah who was married to one of Osama bin Laden's sisters, was in the Philippines in early 1994. He was arrested the same year in Mountain View, California, for conspiring in the bombing of the 1993 World Trade Center. He was financing the Bojinka operation, according to content that Philippine investigators sent to the United States. The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service deported Khalifa to Jordan in May 1995. He was acquitted by the Jordanian court and relocated to Saudi Arabia. He was murdered in his hotel room in Madagascar on January 31, 2007.

Khalid Sheikh Mohamed was captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on March 1, 2003 in a joint action between the Central Intelligence Agency and Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence. In 2006 he was transferred from a secret CIA prison to the Center of Guantanamo detention. In March 2007, he confessed to having masterminded the organization of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bali attacks of 2002, the World Trade Center attack of 1993, the attempt to blow up a plane between Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport and Miami International Airport on December 22, 2001 and other failed attacks.

Final result of investigations

It took years for investigators in the United States to find the connection between Khalid Sheikh Mohamed and the al Qaeda terrorist network. The attacks of September 11 were an evolution of what was learned in Operation Bojinka, since Sheikh determined that using planes loaded with explosives was a risky maneuver for the success of the plot, he preferred to use the proposed alternative of hijacking commercial planes.

Operation Bojinka was included in various documentaries and series on the 9/11 attacks, as it was considered a precursor to the tragedy that occurred in 2001.