Abdulaziz al-Omari (b. May 28, 1979) was a hijacker on American Airlines Flight 11. Al-Omari was born in Hawran village in Al Makhawa, located in the Al Baha region.[1] He graduated with honors from high school, then attended Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University where he earned a degree.[2] At the university, he befriended some clerics, including Suliman Al Alwan, and was a student of cleric Shaikh Saleh Al-Fawzan. Al-Omari was married, with one daughter who was 28 months old at the time of the attacks.[2][1]
In December 2000, Al-Omari left for Afghanistan, where he trained at Al Farooq camp in Kandahar.[1]
On September 10, Omari and Atta drove from Boston to Portland, Maine where they stay overnight at a Comfort Inn. In Portland, they stopped at a Wal-Mart, and got dinner at a Pizza Hut. They were also captured on surveillance video withdrawing money from an ATM.[4] On the morning of September 11, Atta and Omari arrived at Portland International Jetport at 5:45 a.m., and boarded their 6 a.m. flight to Boston. They arrived at Logan International Airport at 6:45 a.m., and checked in for American Airlines Flight 11. By 7:40 a.m., he and the other hijackers were all aboard the flight, with Omari seated in 8G. The aircraft pushed back from the gate at 7:40 a.m.
From al-Omari's martyrdom video:
| “ | My work is a message to anyone who heard about it, to anyone who saw it and to anyone whom you addressed through my letters.
At the same time, this is a message to all the infidels and to America. The message says: "Leave the Arabian Peninsula defeated and stop supporting the coward Jews in Palestine." Otherwise, you will be severely tortured in this life before the hereafter. You should know that we can destroy you and other enemies. We will die for the sake of this goal. We will continue to seek your death and humiliation so long as the book of God [the Koran] and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad - may God's peace and blessings be upon him - are in our hands. May God reward all those who trained me to tread this path and contributed to this great action. I would like to particularly mention mujahid leader Sheikh Osama Bin Laden, may God preserve him from the plots of the plotters, the envy of the envious ones and the rancour of the rancorous ones. May God add these deeds to his balance of good deeds. The one who does good things should be thanked. God acknowledges the good deeds of people.[5] | ” |
Initially after the 9/11 attacks, another Saudi by the same name was suspected to be one of the 9/11 hijackers. Like several of the 9/11 hijackers, Abdul Rahman Alomari had been taking flight training in Florida. Abdul Rahman Alomari was an employee of Saudi Arabian Airlines, in Florida for training. He had returned to Saudi Arabia a couple weeks before 9/11. On September 16, 2001, the FBI announced that a case of mistaken identity had lead it to search Alomari's home in Florida and investigate him, but he was then cleared.[6]