Missing jetliners raise fear of new 9/11-style attacks after Libyan airport falls to Islamic militants

U.S. officials Tuesday expressed fears that Islamist militants who allegedly stole 11 jetliners in Libya last month could carry out a 9/11-style attack in North Africa days before the 13th anniversary of the terror attack on the United States. “There are a number of commercial airliners in Libya that are missing,” one American official was quoted as saying by the U.S. based The Washington Free Beacon.

“We found out on Sept. 11 what can happen with hijacked planes,” he added. The official also said that the missing jets were a serious threat and a counterterrorism concern. Dozens of jets went missing after the Dawn of Libya group overran Tripoli’s international airport on Aug. 23.

The Libyan militants Sunday supposedly posted online pictures of themselves posing with some of the aircraft.

In the pictures, the militants were seen climbing onto the wings of commercial jets while smiling and waving for the camera. During the 2001 attack, a total of 2,753 people lost their lives when Al-Qaeda hijackers flew two airliners into the New York World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. A third plane was flown into the Pentagon, while a fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field after its passengers tried to overpower the hijackers.