Mastermind behind 9/11 attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed agrees plea deal to avoid death penalty after years in jail
THE mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, attacks has agreed to plead guilty more than two decades later in a desperate attempt to avoid the death penalty.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is accused of being the main plotter behind the attack, which saw the deaths of nearly 3,000 people.
The US Department of Defense confirmed the guilty plea on Wednesday.
Mohammed and his accomplices, Walid Bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, are expected to plead guilty at the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as early as next week.
The terms of the plea deal haven't been released.
It comes more than 16 years after the prosecution began against the al-Qaeda members.
More than 20 years ago, al-Qaeda militants flew commercial planes into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York City.
Terry Strada, the national chairperson of 9/11 Families United, heard about the plea deal, saying that many families have wanted the men to admit their guilt.
"For me personally, I wanted to see a trial," she told the Associated Press.
"And they just took away the justice I was expecting, a trial and the punishment."
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