The mastermind behind the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center died early Saturday morning, the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced.
Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, also known as the “Blind Sheikh,” died of natural causes at 5:40 a.m. after a long battle with both diabetes and coronary artery disease. The 78-year-old died at Federal Medical Center in Butner, N.C., where he was serving a life sentence.
Rahman was convicted in 1995 of planning terrorist attacks through New York City, Fox News reported.
Rahman, an Egyptian, traveled to Afghanistan in the mid-1980s, where he met former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who credited the sheikh as being the inspiration behind the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
