September 11 attacks

September 11 attacks
Part of terrorism in the United States
World Trade Center site after the attacks
The Pentagon building on fire after attacks
Location[a]
DateSeptember 11, 2001 (2001-09-11)
c. 08:13 a.m.[b] – 10:03 a.m.[c] (EDT)
Target
Attack type
Islamic terrorism, aircraft hijacking, suicide attack, mass murder
Deaths2,996
(2,977 victims + 19 al-Qaeda terrorists)
Injured6,000–25,000+[d]
PerpetratorsAl-Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden (see also: responsibility)
No. of participants
19
MotiveSeveral; see Motives for the September 11 attacks and Fatawā of Osama bin Laden
Convicted

The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11,[e] were four coordinated Islamist suicide terrorist attacks carried out by Al-Qaeda against the United States on September 11, 2001. That morning, 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners scheduled to travel from the East Coast to California. The hijackers crashed the first two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, two of the world's five tallest buildings at the time, and aimed the next two flights toward targets in or near Washington, D.C., in an attack on the nation's capital. The third team succeeded in striking the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense in Arlington County, Virginia, while the fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania during a passenger revolt. The September 11 attacks killed 2,977 people, making them the deadliest terrorist attack in history, and instigated the multi-decade global war on terror, fought in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere.

The first impact was that of American Airlines Flight 11, which ringleader Mohamed Atta flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan at 8:46 a.m.[f] Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03,[g] the World Trade Center's South Tower was hit by United Airlines Flight 175. Both 110-story skyscrapers collapsed within an hour and forty-one minutes,[h] bringing about the destruction of the remaining five structures in the WTC complex and damaging or destroying nearby buildings. A third flight, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., causing a partial collapse. The fourth and final flight, United Airlines Flight 93, flew in the direction of the capital. Alerted to the previous attacks, the passengers fought for control, forcing the hijackers to nosedive the plane into a Stonycreek Township field, near Shanksville, at 10:03 a.m. Investigators determined that Flight 93's target was either the United States Capitol or the White House.

That evening, the Central Intelligence Agency informed President George W. Bush that its Counterterrorism Center had identified the attacks as having been the work of Al-Qaeda under Osama bin Laden's leadership. The United States formally responded by launching the war on terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which rejected the conditions of U.S. terms to expel Al-Qaeda from Afghanistan and extradite its leaders. The U.S.'s invocation of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty—its only usage to date—called upon allies to fight Al-Qaeda. As U.S. and NATO invasion forces swept through Afghanistan, bin Laden eluded them by disappearing into the White Mountains. He denied any involvement until 2004, when excerpts of a taped statement in which he accepted responsibility for the attacks were released. Al-Qaeda's cited motivations included U.S. support of Israel, the presence of U.S. military bases in Saudi Arabia and sanctions against Iraq. The nearly decade-long manhunt for bin Laden concluded on May 2, 2011, when he was killed during a U.S. military raid after being tracked down to his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The war in Afghanistan continued for another eight years until the agreement was made in February 2020 for American and NATO troops to withdraw from the country, and the last members of the U.S. armed forces left the region on August 30, 2021, after which the Taliban returned to power.

Excluding the hijackers, the attacks killed 2,977 people, injured thousands more and gave rise to substantial long-term health consequences while also causing at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in history as well as the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement personnel in US history, killing 343 and 72 members, respectively. The loss of life stemming from the impact of Flight 11 secured its place as the most lethal plane crash in aviation history followed by the death toll incurred by Flight 175. The destruction of the World Trade Center and its environs seriously harmed the U.S. economy and induced global market shocks. Many other countries strengthened anti-terrorism legislation and expanded their powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site (colloquially "Ground Zero") took eight months and was completed in May 2002, while the Pentagon was repaired within a year. After delays in the design of a replacement complex, construction of the One World Trade Center began in November 2006; it opened in November 2014. Memorials to the attacks include the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, The Pentagon Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia, and the Flight 93 National Memorial at the Pennsylvania crash site.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ "A Day of Remembrance". U.S. Embassy in Georgia. September 11, 2022. Archived from the original on October 24, 2023. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  2. ^ Stempel, Jonathan (July 29, 2019). "Accused 9/11 mastermind open to role in victims' lawsuit if not executed". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 5, 2020. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  3. ^ 9/11 Final Report of the National Commission (2004). Collapse of WTC1 (PDF). p. 24. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 12, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ National Institute of Standards and Technology (2005). "Final report on the collapse of the World Trade Center" (PDF). NIST: 69. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 7, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  5. ^ a b "102 Minutes: Last Words at the Trade Center; Fighting to Live as the Towers Die". The New York Times. May 26, 2002. Archived from the original on September 12, 2009. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  6. ^ Final Report of the 9/11 Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (PDF) (Report). National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. July 22, 2004. pp. 7–8. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
  7. ^ Staff Report of the 9/11 Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (PDF) (Report). National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. September 2005 [August 26, 2004]. p. 24. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 12, 2014. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
  8. ^ Building and Fire Research Laboratory (September 2005). Visual Evidence, Damage Estimates, and Timeline Analysis (PDF) (Report). National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Commerce. p. 27. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 11, 2021. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  9. ^ "Timeline for United Airlines Flight 175". NPR. June 17, 2004. Archived from the original on August 24, 2021. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  10. ^ 9/11 Commission 2004a, p. 302.
  11. ^ "9/11/01 timeline: How the September 11, 2001 attacks unfolded". WPVI-TV. September 11, 2023. Archived from the original on November 5, 2023. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
  12. ^ National Institute of Standards and Technology (2005). "Final report on the collapse of the World Trade Center" (PDF). NIST: 229. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 7, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  13. ^ 9/11 Final Report of the National Commission (2004). Collapse of WTC1 (PDF). p. 329. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 12, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search