German authorities shut '9/11 plotters' mosque

HAMBURG: German police shut down a mosque in the northern city of Hamburg which had been frequented by the suicide hijackers from the September 11 attacks in the United States, authorities said on Monday.

An affiliated cultural centre was also banned. "The Hamburg interior department closed the Arab-German cultural club Taiba," the department said in a statement. "The former al Quds mosque was also closed."

The authorities did not explain their decision but sources said the club in the port city's Sankt Georg quarter was using the mosque to recruit individuals for 'holy war'.

The mosque was searched by 20 police officers in the early morning raid.

Three of the September 11 hijackers including the leader Mohammed Atta, who piloted the first plane into New York's World Trade Center, met frequently at the al Quds mosque before moving to the United States. Authorities said the prayer house served as a recruitment centre.

The mosque, with about 45 members, is still the main meeting point in the city, according to Hamburg authorities.

A group of 10 men from the mosque travelled to Pakistan or Afghanistan last year, probably to attend militant training camps, security officials said.

At least one of the men joined the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in Pakistan and later appeared in propaganda videos for the group, the officials said.