Al Qaeda Hijackers Kill Nearly 3,000 in 4-Plane September 11 Attack on U.S.
Updated
Updated · The New Yorker · Sep 9
Al Qaeda Hijackers Kill Nearly 3,000 in 4-Plane September 11 Attack on U.S.
3 articles · Updated · The New Yorker · Sep 9
Summary
Nineteen Al Qaeda hijackers seized four airliners on Sept. 11, 2001, crashing two into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and one into a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks, which U.S. authorities later tied to Osama bin Laden’s network, with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed identified as the plot’s architect and Mohamed Atta as its U.S. tactical leader.
About 400 first responders died that day, while New York rescue and recovery crews kept working through toxic conditions and the city resumed much of its daily life despite the shock.
The attacks were followed within a week by anthrax letters that killed five people and by years of U.S. military response, including the Afghanistan war, the Iraq invasion, and eventually the killing of bin Laden.
Twenty-five years on, the report argues the attacks scarred American politics and psychology more deeply than New York’s physical fabric, with the city itself remaining largely intact.