US: The fourth target of the September 11th terrorists was the US Capitol Building and not the White House, according to a report in Der Spiegel magazine.
The magazine published transcripts of confessions from the suspected masterminds behind the September 11th attacks, Mr Ramzi bin al-Shibhs and Chalid Sheikh Muhammed, who were arrested in Pakistan in September 2002 and March 2003, and are now in US custody.
"The fourth plane, according to bin al-Shibhs's questioning, should have hit the Capitol, the US parliament...US authorities long suspected that it should have hit the White House. Only Binalshibhs's statement corrected the error," according to the magazine.
Chalid Sheikh Muhammed says in his confession that the original plan, dating from 1996, was to crash a charter plane filled with explosives into the headquarters of the CIA. However, the attack plan became more elaborate following the intervention of Osama Bin Laden.
"Why use an axe if you know how to operate a bulldozer?" said Sheikh Muhammed, apparently quoting Bin Laden.
The magazine said that in 1999 or 2000 at an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, bin Laden personally chose the men who would pilot the planes into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon building. He chose Mohammed Atta, Marwan al Shehi and Ziad Jarrah for a "very secret mission" because they spoke English and were familiar with the western world, according to one deposition.
Mr Ramzi bin al-Shibhs, who shared a Hamburg apartment with the September 11th pilots, says that bin Laden told him of the targets in February 2001. Around that time the group of men agreed on the codeword "Porsche 911" for the mission, itself known as "Holy Tuesday".
Der Spiegel splashed "The Confession" cover story over 13 pages, but did not say how the transcripts came into its possession. However, it warned it was difficult to tell from the transcripts "where the truth ended and the lies began".
Mr bin al-Shibhs was arrested in Pakistan in September 2002. Pakistan announced it had also arrested Sheikh Muhammed in March 2003.