Several hijackers identified: FBI

The FBI has claimed to have identified "many of the hijackers" involved in yesterday's terrorist attacks in the United States. FBI Director, Robert Mueller, who was addressing a news conference in Washington, denied earlier reports that several arrests had been made.

US Attorney General, John Ashcroft, told the same conference that some of the suspected terrorists were trained as pilots in the United States. He added: "We have a number of credible leads".

The White House has said Air Force One may have been a target of yesterday's terror attacks and there was "credible information" the plane that hit the Pentagon may have been intended for the White House.

"There was real and credible information that the White House and Air Force One were targets of terrorist attacks and that the plane that hit the Pentagon was headed for the White House," a presidential spokeswoman told reporters.

The Mayor of New York has said four survivors and 55 dead bodies have to date been recovered from the ruins of the city's World Trade Centre. No official death toll is likely to be known for days or even weeks, but Rudy Giuliani said the collapse of the World Trade Centre had caused horrendous loss of life.

So far, it has been confirmed that two Irish people died in the attacks, but the Department of Foreign Affairs here believes there will be more.

They have been named as Cork woman, Ruth McCourt, and her four-year old daughter, Juliana. They were on a United Airlines plane that was hijacked after taking off from Boston and crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Centre. Incredibly Ruth McCourt's brother, Ronnie Clifford, was at a meeting in the World Trade Centre at the time. He escaped uninjured.

The Pentagon, which was also hit by an airliner, reopened today, even though only half of the building was safe for use after the attack. A spokesperson said media reports that 800 people were killed in the attack were exaggerated.

US government officials are increasingly inclined to blame the Islamic fundamentalist, Osama Bin Laden. Both President Bush and his Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said the terrorist attacks were the equivalent of "war" and vowed the United States would retaliate.

Mr Bush described the attacks as acts of war, and vowed the US would win. In his latest televised address, Mr Bush said that he was sending an emergency funding request to Congress to deal with the carnage left behind by plane attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

After a meeting with his top security aides in the White House, Mr Bush appeared to be preparing for a battle against those responsible. "This battle will take time and resolve, but make no mistake about it we will win," he said.

Earlier, he said that the United States would bring to justice the masterminds behind yesterday's terrorist attacks. The US President warned that Washington would make no distinction between those who carried out the atrocities and those who harboured them.

American military leaders said that the US was ready to respond to the attacks. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Henry Shelton, took a determined stand when he was speaking at a news conference in the Pentagon.

Former US President, Bill Clinton, has urged the United States to rally around President George W Bush in the wake of yesterday's terrorist attacks. Speaking in Australia, he said that US citizens must send a "clear and unambiguous message" that they stand 100% behind Mr Bush.

Before leaving, he said his last day in Australia had been full of grief. "We're all just finding out who we knew, on the planes, in the buildings and it's just beginning," he said.

Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia said today it would consider requests for the extradition of Mr Bin Laden based on evidence from US investigators. "We can study the evidence and take action in light of that," the Islamic militia's ambassador to neighbouring Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, told reporters when asked about a possible extradition.

The special adviser to President Bush on Northern Ireland Affairs, Mr Richard Haas, has said that the United States was not prepared to see terrorism stand and go unchallenged. Mr Haas said that the US would stand up to and would respond to the act of war carried out upon it.

He also thanked the people of Ireland North and South for their support and their help at this difficult time for his country. Mr Haas was speaking in Belfast at the opening of a book of condolences to those killed in yesterday's events.

President Bush said that thousands of people died in the attacks. He said that the pictures of the attacks had filled Americans with disbelief, sadness and anger. Mr Bush was speaking in a televised address.

Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority of Americans consider the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington to be an act of war against the United States, according to the results of a Gallup Poll published today.

A total of 86% of respondents to the poll, carried out for the USA Today newspaper and CNN television channel, agreed that what the attacks constituted acts of war.

The Department of Foreign Affairs in Ireland has launched two help lines for concerned relatives. They are now operating. The numbers are: 1800 401 800 / 1800 385 858. Two new lines have also been added 1 800 715 165 and 1 800 715 159.

The American consulate in Belfast has said that the number for those concerned about relatives from both the North and the Republic is 001 202 646 2500.

There is also a public notice board for those wishing to contact friends or relatives in the United States at www.rte.ie