World Trade Center Attack Anniversary Special | Information Graphics

The airborne terrorist attacks on US landmarks on September 11, 2001 are a watershed moment in world history. Global terrorism came be to demarcated as one before and after 9/11, which is how the four concerted attacks carried out on that Tuesday morning by 19 terrorists belonging to the Osama bin Laden-founded al-Qaeda are popularly referred to world over.

11th September 2001 (08:46 am)

11th September 2001
(08:46 am)

American Airlines flight 11 (AA11) which was hijacked by five militants crashed into the 80th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8.46 a.m. This tower had a total of 110 floors. After a few minutes, exactly at 9.03 a.m, another hijacked flight - United Airlines flight 175 (UA175) - crashed into the 60th floor of the south tower. Both the flights were going from Logan Airport at Boston, US, to Los Angeles. The AA11 flight began its journey at 7.59 a.m. The UA175 flight took off at 8.14 a.m.

Meanwhile, the American Airlines flight 77 (AA77), which took off from the Dulles Airport, Washington, at 8.20 a.m., crashed into the western side of the Pentagon at 9.37 a.m.

Though the United Airlines flight 93 (UA93) that began its journey from Newark Airport at 8.42 a.m. was hijacked by the militants, they could not carry out the attack because of strong resistance put up by passengers. The flight later crashed into a coal field at Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10.03 a.m. According to reports, the flight was aiming at the White House or Capitol Tower. About 44 persons travelling in this flight were killed.

Route Map of Four Flights

Boston

New York

Shanksville

Washington, D.C

AA 11

American Airlines

AA 77

American Airlines

UA 93

United Airlines

UA 175

United Airlines

A giant flying bomb!

The terrorists, who hijacked the planes, knew that there was excess fuel in the aircraft - well above what was needed for domestic flight operations. Because of the excess fuel, when the aircraft was crashed into the WTC towers, they had the effect of a 'giant flying bomb'. A fully laden Boeing 767 or 757 jet aircraft would have the impact of approximately one kiloton of TNT when running into the side of a building. That is equal to roughly 1/20th of the energy unleashed by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima!

2997

A total of 2,997 people were killed in the 9/11 attack and that included 2,605 US citizens and 372 non-US citizens. People from 78 countries lost their lives. (These figures exclude the 19 hijackers.) Most people died in the WTC attack - 2,763 and around 10,000 were injured here alone.

6000

The US had suffered a loss of $6,000 crore- Rs 4.83 lakh crore - due to the attack on the WTC building. An estimated $75 crore - Rs 7,475 core - alone was spent for removing the debris from Ground Zero, the area where the WTC was situated. It took eight months to remove the debris from the area.

4000+3000

The inquiry into the WTC attack was the biggest exercise the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the premier US investigating agency, has carried out till date. At one stage, almost half of the FBI officials were going after this case. As many as 4,000 special agents and 3,000 FBI staff became part of the investigation. The FBI went through 1.5 lakh pieces of evidence and took the statement of around 1.57 lakh people. About 3,800 fingerprints were examined. As part of the case, the FBI took 1.7 lakh photographs. In the first 30 days of the investigation alone, the FBI experts checked 35 Terabyte (36,000 GB) data.

19 terrorists

About 19 terrorists trained by al-Qaeda were involved in all the four terror attacks. The four pilots, who crashed flights into the WTC building, had trained at US flying schools. The pilots of AA11 flight, Wail al-Shehri and Waleed al-Shehri, were brothers. So was the case with the pilots of A77 flight, Navaf al-Hasmi and Salim al-Hasmi. Box cutters and knives were used for hijack. Among the terrorists, the eldest member was 33-year-old at the time of the attack. Others were in the 20 to 29 age group. The 19 terrorists had entered the United States between January and July 2000.

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The militants who hijacked AA11

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Al Suqami

Waleed

Wail

Alomari

Atta

The militants who hijacked AA77

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Moqed

Almihdhar

Nawaf Alhazmi

Salem Alhazmi

Hanjour

The militants who hijacked UA93

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Alghamdi

Al Haznawi

Alnami

Jarrah

The militants who hijacked UA175

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George W Bush and World Trade Center Attack

Al-Shehhi

Alghamdi

Banihammad

Interesting Facts About World Trade Center Attack

Hamza Alghamdi

Alshehri

Osama Bin Laden

Osama
Bin Laden

Osama Bin Laden, the al- Qaeda chief, who was hiding in Saudi Arabia then, was found to be the mastermind behind the 9/11 attack. The US support to Israel in the Palestine conflict, its intervention in the Persian Gulf War and atrocities against Muslims elsewhere were among factors that provoked Laden to attack the US.

In Search of Laden

"Terror attack might have shaken the foundation of one big building. But none can shake the foundation of America..."

The then US President George W Bush said, while addressing his countrymen at 9 p.m. on 9/11. On October 7, the US launched 'Operation Enduring Freedom' as the Global War on Terrorism, primarily targeting the al-Qaeda and Taliban, another Islamic fundamentalist terror outfit which had seized power in Afghanistan in 1996, in retaliation for providing Laden safe haven.

2011, May 2

Laden, who was hiding in Abbottabad in Pakistan, was killed by the US forces during a night raid. Though in the next year, the then US President Barack Obama announced calling off US forces from Afghanistan, it continued to wage war there till it pulled out forces completely on August 31, 2021. The US had spent $2 lakh crore in the last 20 years in its fight against the Taliban and other militant groups. Once the US retreated from Afghanistan, the Taliban came to power and it ironically coincides with the 20th anniversary of the 9/11. So, the big question that remains is what the US finally has gained from 20 years of fight against terrorism.