Portions of a videotape that US and Spanish authorities said was used by Al- Qaeda to prepare for the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center were broadcast on Monday by ABC News. The 29-minute tape, time-stamped August 31, 1997, looks like a tourist video but was shot by an Al-Qaeda surveillance team sent from Spain to scout targets, ABC reported, citing authorities. The video, obtained by the network, shows both towers of the WTC, along with the lobby and observation deck of the South Tower, the antennas on top of the North Tower and close-ups of the building structure. The videotape includes a view of the Hudson River, the same path taken by the two hijacked planes that slammed into the towers on September 11, killing about 3,000 people. Authorities said the video was shot by Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, a Syrian national who was arrested in a raid on a suspected Al-Qaeda logistics cell in Madrid in 2002, ABC reported. The report said Ghalyoun has been charged in Spain’s investigation of the Madrid cell but was currently on bail. On the videotape, Ghalyoun and another man are heard discussing the footage in Arabic. ‘‘We are at the twin towers of Manhattan. This is the inside of one of the twins, the entrance,’’ one of them is heard saying. The New York footage was among 15 videotapes Spanish authorities found when Ghalyoun was arrested. Authorities said the other tapes include surveillance of the Sears Tower in Chicago, Disneyland and Universal Studios in Los Angeles and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, ABC reported. Meanwhile, Pakistan authorities detained an Army Major following the arrest of Al-Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. Officials have detained Major Adil Qudoos, believed to be the uncle of Ahmad Qudoos, the accomplice, arrested three days ago with Mohammed in Rawalpindi.
