Mosque at the centre of 'Hamburg cell' in the spotlight again

Bagram prison, north of Kabul, where Ahmad Siddqui is held. The German was arrested by the US in July in Kabul. Der Spiegel has reported that he told interrogators Osama bin Laden had ordered and financed a Mumbai-style attack in Europe. He is believed to have supplied information about possible targets for US drone attacks on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The 36-year-old from Hamburg is alleged to be a member of the Islamist Movement of Uzbekistan, a group affiliated with the Taliban that has attacked Pakistani security forces and Nato troops in Afghanistan. The German foreign ministry has only confirmed it is providing consular assistance for a man held by the US in Afghanistan. Spiegel said Siddiqui flew with his wife, a brother and another married couple to Peshawar via Qatar before heading to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Siddiqui attended the same mosque as the Hamburg cell Photograph: Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images

The Taiba mosque in Hamburg, run by Mamoun Darkazanli, was attended by some of the 9/11 hijackers. German authorities allowed the mosque to remain open for years despite its ties to terrorists and suspected extremists. In early August authorities raided and closed the mosque, a few weeks after Siddiqui’s arrest in July. 'We have closed the mosque because it was a recruiting and meeting point for Islamic radicals who wanted to participate in so-called jihad or holy war,' the German government said Photograph: Fabian Bimmer/AFP/Getty Images

A police officer removes a computer from the the Taiba mosque in Hamburg on 9 August 2010. Before 9/11 the US had put pressure on the Germans to clamp down on Darkazanli. But German laws did not prohibit his involvement with a foreign terrorist organisation at the time. After 9/11, the US and UN added Darkazanli and his import-export business to the list of al-Qaida-affiliated entities. Spanish officials sought Darkazanli’s extradition in 2004 and 2005, accusing him of being involved with the al-Qaida cell in Madrid that carried out the 2004 train bombings. Darkazanli’s extradition to Spain was blocked by a German court. The Germans found that the EU arrest warrant issued by Spain violated Germany’s constitution. Darkazanli was allowed to go free Photograph: BODO MARKS/AFP/Getty Images

Mamoun Darkazanli, accused of being a top al-Qaida operative, leaves prison in Hamburg, northern Germany, on 18 July 2005. He walked free after Germany's highest court blocked his extradition to Spain on a new EU arrest warrant Photograph: David Hecker/AFP/Getty Images

A picture taken in 1999 in the al-Quds mosque in Hamburg, possibly by 9/11 hijacking pilot Ziad Jarrah, shows as identified: Moroccan Abdelghani Mzoudi (third from left standing upright); Moroccan Mounir El Motassadeq (fifth from left standing upright), later sentenced in Hamburg; Ramzi Binalshibh (seventh from left standing upright), 9/11 co-ordinator arrested in Pakistan on 11 September 2002; 9/11 hijacking pilot Mohammed Atta (second from right sitting); Mohammed Raji (third from right, with Atta's hands on his shoulders), who fled to Morocco Photograph: AFP/ Getty Images

Mohamed Atta. Ringleader of the 9/11 attack. Born in Egypt in 1968 to a middle-class family, Atta was educated as an urban planner in Egypt and later at the technical university in Hamburg. He lived in a flat on Marienstrasse in the Harburg suburb of Hamburg for eight years from 1992, spoke excellent German and patronised Sharky’s billiard bar. Fellow students remember Atta’s anti-semitic and anti-American views. Increasingly religious, he joined an Islamic prayer group at the university. He signed a lease on a Hamburg apartment that became the base for the Hamburg celll. In 2000 he and other hijackers enrolled in flight school at Huffman Aviation in Venice, Florida, earning their pilot licences in December. He was eager but not well-liked, according to the school's director. On the morning of 9/11 Atta and fellow hijacker Abdulaziz al-Omari left Boston on American Airlines flight 11. Atta is believed to have been the pilot when it crashed into the World Trade Centre Photograph: Reuters

Ziad al-Jarrah, left, and Mohamed Atta. Jarrah piloted United Airlines flight 93, which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania as passengers tried to retake control of the plane. He came from an affluent family in Lebanon and attended private Christian schools. He moved to Germany in 1996 and found a girlfriend, Aysel Senguen. He lived a secular lifestyle before growing more devout in late 1996. He was fully radicalised by 1999 and joined the other Hamburg plotters around then. He differed from the other hijackers in the Hamburg cell in that he remained in touch with his family, which tried to dissuade him from his radical views, and his girlfriend. There is speculation that he may have harboured doubts about going ahead with the attacks Photograph: AP

Zakariya Essabar. Born in 1977 in Morocco, Essabar moved to Germany in 1997 and studied medical technology in Hamburg in 1998, when through the Muslim religious community he met Shibh and other members of the Hamburg cell. Essabar quickly became more religious while in Germany and lived for some time at the Hamburg cell apartment. He was radicalised around 1999 despite the efforts of his parents. He is believed to be trained in passport tampering and forgery. There are unsubstantiated reports that Essabar travelled to Afghanistan before 9/11 to communicate the date of the attacks to al-Qaida’s leadership. He remains at large Photograph: AP

Marwan al-Shehhi. Son of a prayer leader in a local mosque in the UAE, he graduated from high school in 1995, and joined the Emirati military. Shehhi served as a sergeant in the army and was admitted to a military scholarship programme that funded his continued study in Germany. He moved to Germany in 1996, wore western clothes, rented cars for trips around Europe and was regarded as outgoing. He was a steadfast Muslim, praying to Mecca five times daily, but a poor student. He grew steadily more religious, avoiding restaurants that used or served alcohol, and ultimately renouncing any semblance of a comfortable lifestyle in the late 1990s. He died in the hijacking of United Airlines flight 93 on 9/11 Photograph: Getty Images

Ramzi Bin al-Shibh is a Yemeni national who at one stage lived with the 9/11 ringleader, Mohamed Atta. Allegedly the main intermediary between the hijackers and al-Qaida leaders, Shibh has been described by officials as a 'key facilitator'. In an interview with an al-Jazeera reporter in 2002 he showed souvenirs of the 9/11 planning, including a flight instruction book signed by Atta. He allegedly helped find flight schools for the hijackers and sent them $120,000 for expenses and flight training. He allegedly was selected to be a hijacker and made a 'martyr video' in preparation for the operation but was unable to get a US visa. At the time of his arrest Shibh was suspected of plotting to hijack and crash aircraft into Heathrow airport. He was transferred from CIA custody to the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay in 2006. He was born in Pakistan and raised in Kuwait Photograph: WINFRIED ROTHERMEL/AP

Said Bahaji. One of the few Hamburg cell members still at large after the 9/11 attacks. His last known movement was when he left Hamburg on 3 September 2001 for Pakistan. Arrest warrants for him have been issued in Germany and Spain. The son of a Moroccan immigrant to Germany, he was educated in Morocco and served five months in the German army before receiving a medical discharge. He lived with Atta and Shibh between November 1998 and July 1999 and the Hamburg cell came into being when they shared an apartment. He apparently served as the group’s computer expert. Described as a dull, insecure follower with little personality or knowledge of Islam, he had already been under investigation by German intelligence for his connections with Mohammed Haydar Zammar, a radical cleric. The investigation was eventually dropped for lack of evidence. In October 1999 he got married at the Taiba mosque. Atta, Jarrah, Shehhi, Zammar and Shibh all attended his wedding Photograph: AFP/Getty Images