A passport belonging to one of the hijackers who took part in this week's terrorist attacks has been recovered several blocks from the World Trade Centre building where the plane crashed, New York police said.
"The passport we found from one of the hijackers was found several blocks away," from the crash scene Deputy chief Barry Mawn told a news conference.
Investigators, saying it is possible that other personal effects from the hijackers might have been expelled from the crash scene when the planes made impact with the skyscrapers, have decided to launch an intensive grid search of the area near the World Trade Centre disaster zone, in the hopes of finding other important evidence.
At the same news conference, New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik added that the hijackers' remains have not yet been recovered from the ruins where some 5,000 victims still lie buried.
Authorities said it was unlikely that the remains of the hijackers who slammed two airliners into the twin towers on Wednesday would be conclusively identified, since nothing was likely to be available for use as a DNA match.
Addressing the status of the ongoing nationwide manhunt, Kerik said police around the country "are interviewing a number of people".
"Some of these people we have a very keen interest in," he said, adding that they currently were being detained under immigration warrants.
"The investigation continues to be extremely robust, both intensive and extensive throughout the country," Kerik said.
© AAP
