US ＇releases 9/11 Pentagon tape＇
Still image from the Pentagon security camera
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The US defence department is to release a video of the plane crashing into the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, legal rights group Judicial Watch has said.
The US was to release the previously unseen footage at 1300 (1700 GMT).
American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the US military headquarters, killing 184 people, after it was hijacked as part of an al-Qaeda plot.
The release of the video, taken from a Pentagon security camera, comes after a Freedom of Information Act request.
Judicial Watch said it would release the footage as soon as it could, but it was not clear when that would be.
＇Conspiracy theories＇
Stills released in 2002 showed the moment the hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon, killing 125 people in the building and 59 passengers and crew.
The crash came shortly after two other hijacked airlines were flown into the twin towers at the World Trade Center in New York.
Judicial Watch filed the freedom of information request in 2004, but the Pentagon refused to release the video because it was part of the investigation involving al-Qaeda plotter Zacarias Moussaoui, the group said.
Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit this February, arguing that there was "no legal basis" for the refusal.
Earlier this month Moussaoui was jailed for life for his role in the 2001 attacks.
Judicial Watch said it wanted to obtain the video because "it was very important to complete the public record" on the attacks.
"Finally, we hope that this video will put to rest the conspiracy theories involving American Airlines Flight 77," President Tom Fitton said.
Some theorists have questioned the official account of the Pentagon attack.
French author Thierry Meyssan alleged that Flight 77 did not crash into the Pentagon and suggested a truck bomb or missile caused the damage.
Such views are challenged by eye-witness testimony at the scene of an aircraft fitting the description of Flight 77 crashing into the site.
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