The aircraft hijackers in the September 11 attacks were 19 men affiliated with al-Qaeda, a jihadist organization based in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They hailed from four countries: 15 of them were citizens of Saudi Arabia, two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Egypt, and one from Lebanon. To carry the attacks out, the hijackers were organized into four teams, each led by a pilot-trained hijacker who would commandeer the flight with three or four "muscle hijackers" who were trained to help subdue the pilots, passengers, and crew. Each team was assigned to a different flight and given a unique target to crash their respective planes into. Mohamed Atta was the assigned ringleader over all four groups.