(Newswire.net — September 11, 2016) —On September 11th 2001, members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda carried out attacks on New York and Washington, a tragic event that marked the beginning of the American and Western global campaign against terrorism.
Al Qaeda, whose leader Osama bin Laden was killed, replaced its branches with the Islamic State, who are the focus of current battles in the Middle East in Syria and Iraq, while terrorist targets have become European capital cities.
The anniversary is traditionally held at the National Memorial Center, located on the site of the former World Trade Center, where the terrorists destroyed the Twin Towers.
The tribute to the victims at the Memorial Center includes a reading of the names of those who were killed in the attacks, while in the evening two beams of blue light, directed towards the sky, resemble the ruined towers of the World Trade Center.
According to CNN, the latest research shows that the concern over a possible terrorist attack on the anniversary rose compared to 2011, when it marked the 10th anniversary of the attack.
The reason is that during this period the so-called Islamic State carried out a series of murderous attacks in the US and Europe, where in the last year tragic events took place in Brussels, Paris, Nice.
The attacks 15 years ago began when the two hijacked planes hit and destroyed the Twin Towers. This was followed by a third plane which attacked the Pentagon in Washington, and a plane in Pennsylvania which crashed into a field.
The attack started when 19 Al-Qaeda members hijacked four passenger planes which departed from airports in Boston, New York and Washington. The hijackers entered the aircraft’s cabin and using knives, which they smuggled onto the plane, they killed the pilots and took control of the aircrafts.
The first American Airlines plane crashed at 8:46am into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York. A short time later, another hijacked plane had hit the south tower, while the third hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon.
Only 20 people from the Twin Towers in New York survived. They were on the floors above the impact site, and were able to safely leave the buildings before they collapsed.
The September 11 attacks killed 2,996 people and injured more than 6,000 others. These immediate deaths included 265 on the four planes, 2,606 in the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area, and 125 at the Pentagon.
The New York firefighters also suffered massive casualties – 343 killed while trying to help the injured to leave the demolished buildings.
Later, it has been determined that the “brains” of the attack was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was captured in March 2003 in Pakistan and in February 2008 accused of war crimes.
In spring 2011, the US Army’s forces raided a high-walled compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden, accused of being responsible for the terrorist attacks on the United States, was found.
Osama bin Laden was killed, along with four others inside the complex.
As he announced the raid, US President Barack Obama called bin Laden’s death “the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al Qaeda.”