9/11 PLOTTERS: WE ARE GUILTY

Chief & accomplices set to avoid death penalty

- CHRIS HUGHES

THREE men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks, including the boss said to have masterminded the atrocity, are set to dodge the death penalty by agreeing to plead guilty.

Al-Qaeda kingpin Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two accomplices, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, are expected to be handed life sentences.

Relatives of victims have condemned the plea deal.

Terry Strada, of the 9/11 Families United group, said: "They just took away the justice I was expecting - a trial and the punishment."

She added: "They were cowards when they planned the attack, and they're cowards today." Pentagon officials declined to immediately release the full terms of the plea bargains.