Who are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other accused terrorists?

Mohammed was raised in Kuwait. He is a 1986 graduate of North Carolina A&T State University with a degree in mechanical engineering.

Walid Bin Attash

He is a Yemeni who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Attash lost his right leg on the battlefield in Afghanistan and was sometimes referred to by the code name "Father of the Leg." He allegedly served Al-Qaeda as an intermediary between Osama Bin Laden and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the accused leader of the plot to attack the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen.

Bin Laden is believed to have tapped Mr. Attash to serve as one of the hijackers in the 9/11 attacks, but he was detained in Yemen in April 2001 while attempting to obtain a US visa. Earlier in 1999, he helped select operatives for special training in Afghanistan. They included a recruit who later became a suicide bomber in the Cole attack, and two of the 9/11 hijackers.

Attash reportedly traveled to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok in December 1999 and January 2000 to meet with two of the 9/11 hijackers. He also is said to have flown two US-owned airliners to observe security procedures.

During his March 2007 combat status review tribunal at Guantánamo, Attash was asked his role in the USS Cole attack.

"Many roles," Attash replied, according to the transcript. "I participated in the buying or purchasing of the explosives. I put together the plan for the operation a year and a half prior to the operation. Buying the boat and recruiting the members that did the operation."

The suicide attack in Yemen's port of Aden killed 17 US sailors and wounded 39.

Ramzi Bin al-Shibh

He was born in 1972 in southern Yemen. Al-Shibh was allegedly selected to participate in the 9/11 hijacking. He and three of the hijackers, including leader Mohammed Atta, met in Hamburg, Germany, in the late 1990s. They traveled to Afghanistan in 1999 where they allegedly met Osama Bin Laden, pledged their loyalty, and agreed to participate in a martyrdom mission against the US.

Al-Shibh was described by a senior Al-Qaeda military commander as a "highly professional jihadist," according to court documents. His Al-Qaeda instructions were reportedly to enroll in a flight training school in Florida where hijacker Ziad Jarrah was already attending classes. Al-Shibh paid a $2,350 deposit to the school. But he never got there.

After receiving a new passport in Germany, Al-Shibh tried four times but was unsuccessful in obtaining a US visa.

Instead of being a hijacker, Al-Shibh served the 9/11 operation as a key intermediary between the hijackers in the US and Al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to a US report. He allegedly relayed instructions by email and phone and met with Atta in Spain in July 2001 to obtain a final briefing on the progress of the operation. He is alleged to have coordinated travel plans for some of the hijackers and helped transfer money to them.

He is reported to have sent $15,000 to Zacharias Moussaoui, who was then undergoing flight training in the US.

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