A Czech diplomat has contradicted U.S. media reports that Mohammad Atta never met an Iraqi intelligence agent.
Hynek Kmonicek, permanent representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations, said that September 11 hijack suspect Mohammad Atta did meet
in Prague with the Iraqi diplomatic official.
"The meeting took place" between Atta and Iraqi
Embassy Second Consul Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, the
English-language "Prague Post" reported in its June 4 edition.
"At the time, I was in Prague," the weekly newspaper quoted Kmonicek as saying. "I was the person who had to expel
al-Ani." Kmonicek was serving as a deputy foreign minister when he
alleges the two men met in April 2001.
U.S. media, including
"Newsweek," "The Washington Post," and "The New York Times," have
cited unidentified U.S. officials as saying there is no evidence the
meeting took place.
Czech officials, including Interior Minister
Stanislav Gross, have maintained that Atta and Al-Ani met in Prague.
Based on reports from Radio Free Europe
