Tuesday September 11 9:03 AM ET
Plane Strikes Trade Center, Building Aflame
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A plane struck the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan Tuesday morning, an eyewitness reported.
The building was burning following at least one explosion, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.
Tuesday September 11 9:13 AM ET
Second Plane Hits Trade Center in New York
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A plane swooped down and hit the second tower of the World Trade Center about two-thirds of the way up the tower, leading to another large explosion, a Reuters reporter watching the scene on TV said.
The impact came moments after a plane was reported to have hit the Trade Center in New York Tuesday morning.
Tuesday September 11 9:23 AM ET
Planes Hit World Trade Center; at Least Said 6 Dead
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York on Tuesday morning, causing huge explosions and killing at least six people, television said.
CNBC television said there were at least a thousand injured.
Both towers of the lower Manhattan landmark, where thousands of people work in offices and which was the scene of a bombing in 1993, were burning after the crashes.
The FBI told the Associated Press that it was "foul play" and not an accident, ABC television reported. A person who answered the phone on the trading floor at interdealer-broker Cantor Fitzgerald, located near the top of the World Trade Center, said "We're f---ing dying," when asked what was happening, and hung up. There was screaming and yelling in the background. A follow up call was not answered.
Nic Fulton, an eyewitness, said that just before the first explosion, he saw a plane fly low over his apartment in the NoHo district of lower Manhattan.
"A plane flew incredibly low over my apartment. We've never seen a plane this low before," Fulton said. He said it was a large, white plane with two jet engines, but he was not able to identify it further. "There's so much smoke coming out of the thing," he said.
Tuesday September 11 9:45 AM ET
Planes in Trade Center Explosion Were Hijacked-TV
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York television station reported that law enforcement officials said the two planes that crashed Tuesday morning into the World Trade Center were hijacked flights originating in Boston.
Television station NY1 did not indicate if it knew which airlines the planes belonged to and the destinations of the flights were not immediately clear.
The two planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York on Tuesday morning, causing huge explosions and killing at least six people, television said.
CNBC television said there were at least a thousand injured.
Both towers of the lower Manhattan landmark, where thousands of people work in offices and which was the scene of a bombing in 1993, were burning after the crashes.
The FBI told the Associated Press that it was ``foul play'' and not an accident, ABC television reported. A person who answered the phone on the trading floor at interdealer-broker Cantor Fitzgerald, located near the top of the World Trade Center, said ``We're f---ing dying,'' when asked what was happening, and hung up. There was screaming and yelling in the background. A follow up call was not answered.
Nic Fulton, an eyewitness, said that just before the first explosion, he saw a plane fly low over his apartment in the NoHo district of lower Manhattan.
"A plane flew incredibly low over my apartment. We've never seen a plane this low before," Fulton said. He said it was a large, white plane with two jet engines, but he was not able to identify it further. "There's so much smoke coming out of the thing," he said.
Tuesday September 11 9:54 AM ET
Planes Hit World Trade Center; Several Dead
By Gary Crosse
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York as office workers began work Tuesday morning, causing huge explosions, eyewitnesses said. TV reports said several people were killed.
President Bush called it an "apparent terrorist attack," and ordered a full-scale investigation. A Palestinian group claimed responsibility, Abu Dhabi television said.
New York 1 television quoted law enforcement officials saying the two planes were hijacked flights from Boston. CNN said one of them was an American Airlines plane.
The tops of both towers of the lower Manhattan landmark, where thousands of people work and which was the scene of a bombing in 1993, were burning after the crashes.
A Reuters reporter on the scene said he saw a body fall from near the top of one of the towers.
Darren Cohen, an electrician from Long Island, said: "I heard the boom and saw flames. People were jumping out of the window.'' Debris from the building injured three people, who were lying on stretchers nearby, he told Reuters.
A person who answered the phone on the trading floor at interdealer-broker Cantor Fitzgerald, located near the top of the World Trade Center, said "We're f---ing dying," when asked what was happening, and hung up. There was screaming and yelling in the background. A followup call was not answered.
Nic Fulton, an eyewitness, said that just before the first explosion, he saw a plane fly low over his apartment in the NoHo district of lower Manhattan.
"A plane flew incredibly low over my apartment. We've never seen a plane this low before," Fulton said. He said it was a large, white plane with two jet engines, but he was not able to identify it further. "There's so much smoke coming out of the thing," he said.
"The second plane curved in from the West and appeared to aim straight at the second tower and hit it just below the level of the first impact," said Mark Wood, another Reuters eyewitness.
"It looked like a mid-sized executive jet and the way it turned suggested it was being aimed deliberately at a target," Wood said.
Tuesday September 11 10:21 AM ET
World Trade Center, Pentagon Attacked by Planes
By Gary Crosse
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York as office workers began work on Tuesday morning, causing the south tower to collapse, eyewitnesses said. TV reports said several people were killed.
In Washington, another plane crashed at the Pentagon, a U.S. official said. Eyewitnesses said the building was being evacuated. The White House and State Department were also evacuated.
A Palestinian group claimed responsibility, Abu Dhabi television said. President Bush called it an apparent terrorist attack," and ordered a full-scale investigation.
"I saw the building collapse. There was a stampede up all the avenues on the West side," Reuters reporter Marjorie Olster said. "People were hysterical, saying, 'We're going to die.' A huge cloud of smoke and dust came up the avenue, looking like it was going to engulf everybody."
New York 1 television quoted law enforcement officials saying the two planes were believed to be two hijacked flights from Boston. An eyewitness said one of them was an American Airlines plane.
Smoke poured from the 110-story lower Manhattan landmark, where thousands of people worked and which was the scene of a bombing in 1993.
A Reuters reporter on the scene said he saw a body fall from near the top of one of the towers.
Darren Cohen, an electrician from Long Island, said: "I heard the boom and saw flames. People were jumping out of the window.'' Debris from the building injured three people, who were lying on stretchers nearby, he told Reuters.
A person who answered the phone on the trading floor at interdealer-broker Cantor Fitzgerald, located near the top of the World Trade Center, said "We're f---ing dying,'' when asked what was happening, and hung up. There was screaming and yelling in the background. A follow-up call was not answered.
Nic Fulton, an eyewitness, said that just before the first explosion, he saw a plane fly low over his apartment in the NoHo district of lower Manhattan.
"A plane flew incredibly low over my apartment. We've never seen a plane this low before," Fulton said. He said it was a large, white plane with two jet engines, but he was not able to identify it further. "There's so much smoke coming out of the thing," he said.
"The second plane curved in from the West and appeared to aim straight at the second tower and hit it just below the level of the first impact," said Mark Wood, another Reuters eyewitness.
"It looked like a mid-sized executive jet and the way it turned suggested it was being aimed deliberately at a target," Wood said.
Tuesday September 11 10:37 AM ET
World Trade Center, Pentagon Hit by Planes
By Alan Elsner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three planes crashed into major U.S. landmarks in New York and Washington on Tuesday, destroying one of New York's mighty twin towers, in a dramatic and deadly attack on the United States.
Loss of life from the attacks was feared to be catastrophic and could number in the hundreds or even thousands.
Both of the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center were struck by planes deliberately plowing into them at the start of the workday. Shortly afterward, a third plane crashed into or near the Pentagon in Washington, setting off a big fire.
The Pentagon, the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court and other key government buildings were evacuated as the nation ground to a virtual halt and panic spread throughout the country. Authorities grounded all planes in the United States, an unprecedented step.
President Bush called the deliberate aerial assaults an "apparent terrorist attack," and ordered a full-scale investigation.
Early reports said all three planes used in the attacks were hijacked, two of them from Boston. It was not immediately known who flew the planes and what happened to them.
The first plane crashed into one of the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center as thousands of workers arrived to begin their day.
HUGE HOLE IN BUILDING
It opened a huge hole near the top of the building. Two hours later, the building in which thousands of people collapsed on itself in a huge cloud of smoke and fire.
TV stations caught the second plane plowing into the second of the twin towers, exploding in a fire ball a few minutes after the first impact.
"It's clear that this is terrorist-related. We're not sure who is responsible," a U.S. official said.
"There was no advance warning of this," the official said on condition of anonymity.
One of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center was American Airlines' Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, said Lori Bassani, spokesperson for American's flight attendants union.
Bassani, who said she was in a meeting with American officials in Fort Worth, Texas, American's headquarters, said if full, the flight on the Boeing 767 would carry 158 passengers. That would include two pilots and nine or 10 flight attendants, she said.
She said she did not know how many people were on board.
Bush cut short a visit to Florida and rushed back to Washington to face the greatest crisis of his young presidency.
"Terrorism against our nation will not stand," Bush said before leaving for the capital.
"Today we've had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country," he said, speaking before schoolchildren, teachers and parents at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, where he had planned to talk about education.
"I have spoken to the vice president, to the governor of New York, to the director of the FBI, and have ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and the families and to conduct a full scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act," said Bush.
He called for a moment of silence. "May God bless the victims, their families and America," he said, his voice breaking with emotion.
Tuesday September 11 11:12 AM ET
Massive Attacks Destroy World Trade Center, Hit Pentagon
By Alan Elsner, National Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three hijacked planes crashed into major U.S. landmarks on Tuesday, destroying both of New York's mighty twin towers, hitting the Pentagon in Washington and plunging the United States into unprecedented chaos and panic.
Loss of life was expected to be catastrophic from the collapse of the giant towers of the World Trade Center where many thousands of people work. The two enormous edifices both fell in a huge cloud of smoke and fire two hours after the initial impacts.
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said there had been a ''tremendous number of lives lost'' in the attacks on his city.
Another plane crashed near Pittsburgh. It was not clear if this was another attempted hijacking.
Hospitals in New York were overwhelmed with patients as a massive cloud billowed into the blue skies over Manhattan where the city skyline had been dramatically and permanently altered.
"Hundreds of people are burned from head to toe,'' said Dr. Steven Stern at St. Vincent's Hospital in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan.
"The whole of lower Manhattan is coated in half an inch of dust,'' Reuters reporter Daniel Sternoff said.
BUSH CUTS SHORT VISIT
President Bush cut short a visit to Florida and rushed back to Washington to face the greatest crisis of his young presidency.
He called the deliberate aerial assaults an ``apparent terrorist attack'', and ordered a full-scale investigation. Early speculation about the source of the attack centered on Saudi-born guerrilla leader Osama Bin-Laden.
It was the most dramatic and deadly attack on the U.S. mainland in modern history. The attacks forced the evacuation of all government buildings in Washington, including the White House and other tall buildings around the country, cut cell phone communications on the East Coast and grounded all commercial planes in the United States.
Early reports said all three planes used in the attacks were hijacked, one of them from Boston and one from Washington. It was not immediately known who flew the planes and what happened to them.
The day of horror began around 9 a.m. in New York when the first plane plowed into the south tower of New York's World Trade Center, as thousands of workers were streaming into the building to begin their day.
It opened a huge hole near the top of the building. Two hours later, the whole building in which thousands of people collapsed on itself in a huge cloud of smoke and fire.
TV stations caught the second plane plowing into the second of the twin towers, exploding in a fire ball a few minutes after the first impact. That building caved in about an hour after the first.
Shortly afterward, a third plane crashed into or near the Pentagon in Washington, throwing people off their feet inside the building and setting off a massive fire.
Amid confusion, news organizations reported another explosion at the State Department but this was later denied. Other reports spoke of another hijacked plane heading toward the capital.
GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS EVACUATED
All government buildings including the White House and the Capitol and the CIA were evacuated. The Federal Aviation Authority grounded all planes in the United States, an unprecedented step.
"It's clear that this is terrorist-related, we're not sure who is responsible,'' one official said of the Pentagon attack.
"There was no advance warning of this,'' the official said on condition of anonymity.
One of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center was American Airlines' Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, said Lori Bassani, spokesperson for American's flight attendants union.
Bassani said if full, the flight on the Boeing 767 would carry 158 passengers. That would include two pilots and nine or 10 flight attendants, she said.
She said she did not know how many people were on board.
"Terrorism against our nation will not stand,'' Bush said before leaving Florida for the capital.
"Today we've had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country,'' he said, speaking before schoolchildren, teachers and parents at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, where he had planned to talk about education.
"I have spoken to the vice president, to the governor of New York, to the director of the FBI, and have ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and the families and to conduct a full scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act,'' said Bush.
He called for a moment of silence. "May God bless the victims, their families and America,'' Bush said, his voice breaking with emotion.
Bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire and Islamic militant, believed to be in exile in Afghanistan, was blamed for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in which 224 people died.
An Arab journalist with access to bin Laden told Reuters in London that the renegade Saudi three weeks ago had warned of an ''unprecedented attack'' on U.S. interests.
The previous worst act of terrorism in the United States was the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City in which 168 people died. Timothy McVeigh was executed for that attack earlier this year
A previous bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 resulted in six deaths and hundreds of injuries.
Tuesday September 11 11:23 PM ET
US Reels From Devastating Attack, Thousands Killed
By Alan Elsner and Andrew Quinn
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three planes commandeered by unknown hijackers slammed into the Pentagon and New York's landmark World Trade Center on Tuesday, sending towering symbols of America's financial and military might crumbling into rubble and burying thousands of people alive.
President Bush, speaking after a day that saw America reeling under its worst attack since the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, vowed to stand firm against terrorism and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The twin 110-story World Trade Center towers, which drew as many as 40,000 workers a day, lay toppled and in ruins. The Pentagon, the nerve-center of the nation's military, was severely damaged with flames still burning late into Tuesday night.
Bush, in the first official confirmation of what could be a staggering death toll, urged vigilance as U.S. forces worldwide went on highest alert.
"Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror,'' Bush said in a televised nationwide address.
"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings ... they cannot touch the foundation of America,'' Bush said. ``These acts shattered steel but they cannot shatter the steel of American resolve.''
Bush said the search was underway for those responsible, adding ``We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbored them.''
With the nation in shock and disbelief, major U.S. financial markets were ordered closed for a second day on Wednesday.
SUSPICION CENTERS ON BIN LADEN
While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, suspicions centered on an implacable U.S. foe -- exiled Saudi Osama bin Laden, who is being sheltered in Afghanistan by the Taliban government.
Explosions lit up the night sky in the Afghan capital of Kabul and reports said there were missiles flying across the city. But a Pentagon official denied U.S. involvement and said the attack appeared to come from an Afghan opposition group.
Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch told ABC News that he had been told by top intelligence officials that all signs point in the direction of bin Laden. ``We know that people on (one of the aircraft) appear associated with bin Laden,'' he told ABC.
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said the death toll could ultimately be ``horrific''. Hundreds of firefighters and police are missing and feared dead after trying to rescue others.
"There was a very substantial loss of life among firefighters at the scene,'' said Kathleen Zichy of NYU Downtown Hospital.
Officials feared the death toll could climb into the tens of thousands because as many as 40,000 people worked in the steel and glass Trade Center towers. A nearby 47-story building, World Trade Center No. 7, collapsed seven hours later after a raging fire. A hotel in the complex was also reported to have collapsed.
It was a day of horror, in which people jumped out windows high above the ground to avoid being burned alive or buried in tons of steel.
A person who answered the phone on the trading floor of broker Cantor Fitzgerald near the top of the World Trade Center said, ``We are fucking dying!'' when asked what was happening. The entire nation was brought to a halt by scenes of terrified people fleeing the mayhem flashing across TV screens. The mighty twin towers, anchoring the southern tip of Manhattan imploded one at a time, sending a massive plume of dust and smoke billowing over the city.
President Bush, in Florida at the time of the attacks, rushed back to Washington after crisscrossing the country.
AN ACT CONDEMNED
World leaders condemned the attack. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called the strikes a "declaration of war against the civilized world.'' A shaken Palestinian President Yasser Arafat called them "a terrible act,'' though Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories and Lebanon celebrated.
Saddam Hussein's Iraq, long a U.S. foe, said the United States deserved the attacks for what it called "its crimes against humanity.''
The attacks, which involved the hijacking of four commercial planes -- two from Boston, one each from Newark and Dulles, outside Washington -- brought normal life across the country to a standstill, turning major cities into eerie ghost towns. Attorney General John Ashcroft said least one of the planes was commandeered by hijackers armed with knives.
Financial markets were closed and millions of workers sent home early. All commercial flights were canceled and all airports shut in an unprecedented move. For the first time since D-Day, major league baseball games were canceled.
The crisis began shortly before 9 a.m. EDT when the first plane slammed into the north tower in New York's financial district, opening a huge hole near the top.
A second plane followed 15 minutes later, scoring a direct hit on the south tower. Minutes later came the report of a third kamikaze attack on the Pentagon, in Northern Virginia across the Potomac river from Washington.
A section of the five-story, five-sided complex, the world's biggest office building which was never attacked during decades of the Cold War, collapsed and burned, sending gray smoke billowing over Washington.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the casualty total was unclear, but added: "It will not be few.''
District of Columbia Mayor Anthony Williams declared a state of emergency in the city and all the hospitals in the region were put on ``maximum alert.'' As White House staffers were evacuated and key personnel taken to safe locations, most of the federal government shut down for the day.
DEADLIEST BLOW OF ALL
While the nation struggled to come to grips with this horror, the deadliest blow of all followed as first one and then the second of the twin towers collapsed with a roar in a burst of smoke, fire and metal.
The towers -- which opened for business amid great fanfare in 1975 -- became one of New York's best-known landmarks, rivaling the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.
Not knowing if more attacks were on the way, authorities evacuated landmarks like the White House, the Pentagon, the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Walt Disney theme parks.
It was the worst attack on American soil since Japanese war planes bombed the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor in 1941, killing 2,280 soldiers and 68 civilians and forcing the United States into World War Two.
266 ABOARD FOUR HIJACKED PLANES
Authorities said at least 266 people were on board four hijacked planes -- two that crashed into the twin towers, one that slammed into the Pentagon and a fourth that crashed in a wooded area near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
"I looked outside and saw a big chunk of the World Trade Center missing,'' said Verizon employee Ellen Leon. "Fifteen minutes later I saw people jumping out of the building. Bodies were flying out. I don't know if they were already dead or if they were just going to die.''
The attacks triggered panic, disbelief and heroism in the largest U.S. city, where police and firefighters risked their lives to save people from the twin towers before its 200,000 tons of steel frame and 43,000 windows came smashing down.
"Hundreds of people are burned from head to toe,'' said Dr. Steven Stern at St. Vincent's Hospital in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan.
Foreign financial markets fell sharply on news of the attacks, which economists said could help shove the shuddering global economy into recession. The London FTSE index plummeted 5.7 percent and Latin American markets tumbled. Oil prices spiked up. Asian markets opened on Wednesday in chaos, with Tokyo stocks sliding to 17-year lows and other regional markets also showing sharp losses.
Bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire and Islamic militant, was blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in which 224 people died. An Arab journalist with access to bin Laden told Reuters in London he had warned three weeks ago of an "unprecedented attack" on U.S. interests.
Tuesday September 11 11:35 AM ET
Plane Attacks Destroy World Trade Center, Hit Pentagon
By Alan Elsner, National Correspondent
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three hijacked planes crashed into U.S. landmarks on Tuesday, destroying both of New York's mighty twin towers and plunging the Pentagon in Washington into flames in an unprecedented assault on key symbols of U.S. military and financial power.
Loss of life was expected to be catastrophic from the collapse of the giant towers of the World Trade Center where many thousands of people work. The two enormous edifices both fell in a huge cloud of smoke and fire two hours after the initial impacts.
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said there had been a "tremendous number of lives lost" in the assault on his city.
The attacks, the worst on the U.S. mainland in modern history, plunged the country into chaos and panic, paralyzing communications, closing markets and forcing the evacuation of key buildings.
Another plane crashed south of Pittsburgh. It was not clear if this was another attempted hijacking. As international flights were diverted to Canada, the Federal Aviation Authority said it had yet to account for a number of planes.
President Bush cut short a visit to Florida and rushed back to Washington to face the greatest crisis of his young presidency.
'APPARENT TERRORIST ATTACK'
He called the deliberate aerial assaults an "apparent terrorist attack", and ordered a full-scale investigation. Early speculation about the source of the attack centered on Saudi-born guerrilla leader Osama Bin-Laden.
Palestinian gunmen at refugee camps in Lebanon fired into the air to celebrate news of the attacks on major U.S. landmarks and government offices.
Hospitals in New York were overwhelmed with patients as a massive cloud billowed into the blue skies over Manhattan where the city skyline had been dramatically and permanently altered.
"Hundreds of people are burned from head to toe," said Dr. Steven Stern at St. Vincent's Hospital in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan.
"The whole of lower Manhattan is coated in half an inch of dust," Reuters reporter Daniel Sternoff said.
The attacks forced the evacuation of all government buildings in Washington, including the White House and other tall buildings around the country, cut cell phone communications on the East Coast and grounded all commercial planes in the United States.
Early reports said all three planes used in the attacks were hijacked, one of them from Boston and one from Washington. It was not immediately known who flew the planes and what happened to them.
The day of horror began around 9 a.m. in New York when the first plane plowed into the south tower of New York's World Trade Center, as thousands of workers were streaming into the building to begin their day.
HUGE HOLE IN TWIN TOWER
It opened a huge hole near the top of the building. Two hours later, the whole building in which thousands of people work, collapsed on itself in a huge cloud of smoke and fire.
TV stations caught the second plane plowing into the second of the twin towers, exploding in a fire ball a few minutes after the first impact. That building caved in about an hour after the first.
Shortly afterwards, a third plane crashed into or near the Pentagon in Washington, throwing people off their feet inside the building and setting off a massive fire.
Amid confusion, news organizations reported another explosion at the State Department but this was later denied. Other reports spoke of another hijacked plane heading toward the capital.
All government buildings including the White House and the Capitol and the CIA were evacuated. The Federal Aviation Authority grounded all planes in the United States, an unprecedented step.
"It's clear that this is terrorist-related, we're not sure who is responsible," one official said of the Pentagon attack.
"There was no advance warning of this," the official said on condition of anonymity.
One of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center was American Airlines' Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, said Lori Bassani, spokesperson for American's flight attendants union.
'A NATIONAL TRAGEDY'
Bassani said if full, the flight on the Boeing 767 would carry 158 passengers. That would include two pilots and nine or 10 flight attendants, she said.
She said she did not know how many people were on board.
"Terrorism against our nation will not stand,'' Bush said before leaving Florida for the capital.
"Today we've had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country,'' he said, speaking before schoolchildren, teachers and parents at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, where he had planned to talk about education.
"I have spoken to the vice president, to the governor of New York, to the director of the FBI, and have ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and the families and to conduct a full scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act," said Bush.
He called for a moment of silence. "May God bless the victims, their families and America," Bush said, his voice breaking with emotion.
Bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire and Islamic militant, believed to be in exile in Afghanistan, was blamed for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in which 224 people died.
An Arab journalist with access to bin Laden told Reuters in London renegade Saudi had warned three weeks ago of an "unprecedented attack" on U.S. interests.
The previous worst act of terrorism in the United States was the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City in which 168 people died. Timothy McVeigh was executed for that attack earlier this year
A previous bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 resulted in six deaths and hundreds of injuries.
Tuesday September 11 12:09 PM ET
NY Mayor Orders Evacuation, Says Death Toll High
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mayor Rudolph Giuliani ordered an evacuation of the lower part of Manhattan Tuesday after an attack destroyed both towers of the World Trade Center and caused what he called a "horrendous number of lives lost.''
"I would like to take this opportunity to tell everyone to remain calm and to the extent that they can, evacuate Lower Manhattan,'' Giuliani told local broadcaster NY1 in his first comments on the incident.
Giuliani said there has been an enormous loss of life and added that there was no threat or warning of the attack on the 110-story towers in which about 50,000 people work.
"There were people jumping out of the World Trade Center. It was a horrible, horrible situation,'' the mayor said.
Giuliani said the mass transit authority would send subways into Lower Manhattan to take people out of the area and ships have also been called in for the evacuation.
He added the National Guard has been placed on alert and that all the city's emergency personnel were heading to the attack area to aid in the rescue.
The mayor said that primary election for the city has been canceled.
He said he wanted to focus on rescue operations first and then find out the magnitude of the situation.
Tuesday September 11 12:20 PM ET
Hijacked Planes Destroy Twin Towers, Hit Pentagon
By Alan Elsner, National Correspondent
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three hijacked planes crashed into U.S. landmarks on Tuesday, destroying New York's mighty twin towers and plunging the Pentagon in Washington into flames in an unprecedented assault on key symbols of U.S. military and financial power.
Loss of life was expected to be catastrophic from the collapse of the giant towers of the World Trade Center where some 50,000 people work. The two 110-story towers collapsed one at a time in a huge cloud of smoke and fire two hours after the initial impacts.
President Bush called the deliberate aerial assaults an ''apparent terrorist attack,'' and ordered a full-scale investigation. Early speculation about the source of the attack centered on Saudi-born guerrilla leader Osama Bin-Laden.
Bush cut short a visit to Florida and rushed back to Washington to face the greatest crisis of his young presidency.
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said there had been a ''horrendous number of lives lost'' in the assault on his city.
The attacks, the worst on the U.S. mainland in modern history, plunged the country into chaos and panic, paralyzing communications, forcing the evacuation of key buildings, closing markets, schools and even theme parks. Sirens screamed as terrified people rushed through the streets seeking safety.
American Airlines said two of its jets carrying a total of 156 people were lost. United Airlines said one of its planes had crashed in Pennsylvania with unknown loss of life and another was missing.
As international flights were diverted to Canada, the Federal Aviation Administration shut down all flights in the United States and said it had yet to account for a number of planes.
HOSPITALS OVERWHELMED
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and gunmen at refugee camps in Lebanon fired into the air to celebrate news of the attacks.
Hospitals in New York were overwhelmed with patients as a massive cloud billowed into the blue skies over Manhattan where the city skyline had been dramatically and permanently altered.
"Hundreds of people are burned from head to toe,'' said Dr. Steven Stern at St. Vincent's Hospital in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan.
"The whole of lower Manhattan is coated in half an inch of dust,'' Reuters reporter Daniel Sternoff said.
The attacks forced the evacuation of all government buildings in Washington, including the White House and other tall buildings across the country, cut cell phone communications on the East Coast and grounded all commercial planes in the United States.
World leaders expressed shock and horror and foreign financial markets fell sharply on news of the attacks. The London FTSE index plummeted 5.7 percent, while oil prices spiked up by 3 percent. U.S. markets were closed.
Early reports said all three planes used in the attacks were hijacked, one of them from Boston and one from Washington. It was not immediately known who flew the planes and what happened to them.
The day of horror began around 9 a.m. (1300 GMT) in New York when the first plane plowed into the south tower of New York's World Trade Center, as thousands of workers were streaming into the building to begin their day.
HUGE HOLE IN TWIN TOWER
It opened a huge hole near the top of the building. Two hours later, the whole building in which thousands of people work, collapsed on itself in a huge cloud of smoke and fire.
TV stations caught the second plane plowing into the second of the twin towers, exploding in a fire ball a few minutes after the first impact. That building caved in about an hour after the first.
Shortly afterward, a third plane crashed into or near the Pentagon in Washington, throwing people off their feet inside the building and setting off a massive fire.
Amid confusion, news organizations reported another explosion at the State Department, but that was later denied. Other reports spoke of another hijacked plane heading toward the capital.
All government buildings including the White House and the Capitol and the CIA were evacuated. The FAA grounded all planes in the United States, an unprecedented step.
"It's clear that this is terrorist-related, we're not sure who is responsible,'' one official said of the Pentagon attack.
"There was no advance warning of this,'' the official said on condition of anonymity.
One of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center was American Airlines' Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, said Lori Bassani, spokesperson for American's flight attendants union.
The other was flight 77, a Boeing 757, operating from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles.
United said flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco, a Boeing 757, had crashed south of Pittsburgh. The airline said it had no other details of how many people were on board.
United also said it was ``deeply concerned'' about another flight, No. 175, which departed from Boston. The airline said it had no details of that flight.
'A NATIONAL TRAGEDY'
Speaking before the full horror had unfolded, Bush said: ''Terrorism against our nation will not stand. Today we've had a national tragedy.''
"Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country,'' he said, speaking before schoolchildren, teachers and parents at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, where he had planned to talk about education.
"I have spoken to the vice president, to the governor of New York, to the director of the FBI, and have ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and the families and to conduct a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act,'' said Bush.
He called for a moment of silence. ``May God bless the victims, their families and America,'' Bush said, his voice breaking with emotion.
The attacks took place near the anniversary of the 1978 Camp David accords that led to peace between Israel and Egypt.
Bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire and Islamic militant, believed to be in exile in Afghanistan, was blamed for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in which 224 people died.
An Arab journalist with access to bin Laden told Reuters in London the renegade Saudi had warned three weeks ago of an ''unprecedented attack'' on U.S. interests.
Washington has offered a $5-million reward for his capture. George Tenet, director of the CIA, said this week the tall, thin Saudi was the most immediate and serious threat to U.S. security.
Beside the embassy bombings, U.S. officials link bin Laden to last year's bombing of a U.S. Navy ship in Yemen and with foiled plots in the United States and Jordan at the turn of the millennium.
"Since 1998, bin Laden has declared all U.S. citizens legitimate targets of attack,'' he said.
The previous worst act of terrorism in the United States was the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City in which 168 people died. Timothy McVeigh was executed for that attack earlier this year
A previous bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 resulted in six deaths and hundreds of injuries.
Tuesday September 11 1:38 PM ET
Mexico-U.S. Border Closed, Flights Canceled
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The long land border between the United States and Mexico was partially closed and all flights from Mexico to the United States suspended after attacks on U.S. landmarks on Tuesday morning, U.S. and Mexican officials said.
"The American side is closed. That is outside our jurisdiction. Mexico closed nothing," said a spokeswoman with Mexico's communications and transport ministry.
The U.S.-Mexico border is 2,000 miles long.
The Santa Fe bridge, one of the main thoroughfares between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, was reopened after a brief closure for what appeared to be a security checks.
A Reuters correspondent saw U.S. uniformed personnel, carrying M-16 rifles, using dogs to inspect the bridge beyond the customs barrier on the U.S. side, as sirens blared on emergency vehicles arriving at the area.
The border in the San Diego area in southern California was closed and all traffic into the United States from Mexico was also being halted at that border crossing, one of the busiest along the frontier, U.S. customs officials said.
But bridges at other points along the border appeared to be still open.
Bridge officials at Camargo, Tamaulipas, in Mexico and at Rio Grande, Texas, said the border crossing there was operating normally, but with ``high security.'' And the international bridge at McAllen, Texas, was also operating, said the director of the Mexican side of the bridge.
Customs agents on the Mexican side of the border at the town of Colombia, Nuevo Leon, across from Texas, said they were also operating normally, but slowly as U.S. officials had stepped up security.
All U.S.-bound flights from Mexico and Central America were canceled on Tuesday, and U.S. diplomatic offices closed or beefed up security.
"All scheduled flights from Mexico City have been canceled," airport spokesman Jose Luis Uribe said.
Four aircraft that left Mexico City for different destinations just prior to the Tuesday morning attacks had turned back as requested by U.S. officials, he said.
Officials with American Airlines and America West in Mexico said no flights would operate until further notice. All U.S.-bound flights from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama were canceled, officials said
U.S. Embassies closed because of security concerns in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras while the U.S. Embassy and consular offices in Mexico City and the northern industrial hub of Monterrey remained open with extra security forces on duty. The U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua remained open with extra security.
Some 400 U.S. soldiers at a U.S. military base in the center of Honduras were on alert.
Tuesday September 11 4:51 PM ET
Men and Women on New York Streets Stunned, Numb
By John J. Doran
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Yorkers and their guests were stunned, outraged and left numb by the sight of two jets crashing into the World Trade Center and the crumbling of the famous skyline icons into clouds of dust.
The terrorist attack came from nowhere, but quickly cast a pall of smoke, dust and debris on the southern tip of Manhattan at the height of the morning commute. Tens of thousands of workers in the twin towers were subjected the worst attacks on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
Many New Yorkers and tourists either witnessed the attack or caught the destruction on television.
"I think today everyone is in shock," said tourist Bob Schemenauer of Jefferson, Missouri. "Tomorrow, everyone's going to be angry."
Rudolph Giuliani, the tough mayor best known for reducing crime in the city, called the attack an act of cowardice.
"The number of casualties will be more than any of us can bear, ultimately," he said at a grim afternoon news conference.
And while New Yorkers are known for a tough veneer, the denizens of this city of 8 million were clearly caught off guard, numb with grief and shock.
Catherine White, manager at Robert Emmett's Bar & Restaurant on 44th St. and Eighth Ave., looked at her hands as she described the mood in her pub. ``It's just crazy,'' she sighed. ``There's complete disbelief here."
Only about half of her usual staff of eight was able to make it in on Tuesday.
"It's not usually this quiet here," White added.
A funereal hush had settled over the Irish pub. Most patrons were staring up at the television screen at the end of the bar, tuned to the flickering images of the devastation and smoke at the World Trade Center.
Not far from White sits Lorie Smith, who struggled with a plate of chicken fingers, trying to eat when she was clearly shaken. She works at a health evaluation company not far away.
"It's terrible," she said. "I just can't imagine it."
Joseph Sullivan works at another pub nearby. Sullivan, who is from Dublin, Ireland, is in New York on a student working visa. He lives in the Bronx, and was expecting to meet his girlfriend.
"I've tried calling her," he said in a thick brogue. "I can't reach her.
"It hasn't really sunk in," he said. "Same as everyone else. I just can't believe it."
Chris, an employee of Morgan Stanley, was on a midtown corner looking for news about subway service to the Bronx.
"I'm looking to find a way home. I was shocked. I was in the Wall Street area when I heard a 'boom' and saw smoke. It was horrible," he said.
John Burke, of River, New York, is an engineer at Times Square's New Amsterdam Theater, where Disney's "The Lion King" is being performed.
"Unbelievable," he said. `"You can never be too comfortable. I think it will take a couple of days to sort through this. Travel, everything will change."
TOURISTS CONCERNED
Many witnesses to Tuesday morning attack were tourists. And many were left in fear and confusion.
It was the first visit to New York for Schemenauer and his wife, Donna. They were waiting in midtown outside a shuttered Madame Tussaud's, a wax museum modeled after the one in London.
"We can't get hold of our kids to let them know we're OK," said Donna Schemenauer said.
Bob Schemenauer said: "When they (the towers) collapsed I thought 'My God, this has to be an enormous undertaking to do this.' It's amazing how the government let this happen."
In the wake of the Tuesday's horror, the Schemenauers were eager to leave New York City.
"If we could get out, we'd get out today,'' Bob Schemenauer. ''If I could get out of here I would go right now and that's sad. This is something I wanted to do all my life.''
All air travel in the United States was grounded and most routes out of New York City were closed after the attacks.
Just beyond the fearful couple, crowds gathered on busy 42nd Street to watch large television screens in building facades and giant news tickers, where news pictures flashed images from the Pentagon fire and smoke from the rubble of the twin towers and headlines screamed about the carnage.
HELPING HANDS
Yet, in the midst of tragedy in the enormous metropolis, what has been a New York tradition and testament of the character of the city came into to play: doors were opening to help.
The Hilton Times Square was making dormitories out of conference rooms, moving in rollaway beds to house city workers responding to the crisis. The sold-out hotel also was checking hotels in New Jersey to try to accommodate guests.
"Normally this is a busy time anyway," said General Manager Russell Menkes. "It's just busy for the wrong reason."
Menkes said he was in his office when he heard about the attack.
"I looked out my window and I could see the trade center with a hole in it," Menkes said. "Somebody said it had collapsed, and I looked out my window and there was nothing but smoke."
SURPRISE ATTACK
"I just can't believe something like this could happen in America," said Jack Hull, in town on a business trip from Little Rock, Arkansas. Hull said he was scheduled to leave Friday and probably wouldn't change his travel plans. "I guess I'm assuming things will be shut down," Hull said. "It would be nice to be home."
Rich Nebb, associate examiner for the New York State Department of Insurance, as he witnessed the second explosion, said, "I saw the smoke. My mouth just fell.
"It was really loud. Then, people were scurrying like cockroaches."
He showed a dust mask given to him by a construction worker in a building he ducked into after the second blast.
His black shoes were still covered with a coat of soot and dust from the explosion after Nebb walked more than two miles from lower Manhattan to midtown.
John Nieves, senior software engineer, said he did not bargain for the surprise of his life when he was sent to New York City for weeklong training.
He was visibly shaken as he watched the replays of the explosions on one the several jumbo television screens in Times Square. He struggled to find words to describe the smoke and chaos that greeted him this morning when the doors opened on the underground PATH train, the commuter train that runs into the World Trade Center from under the Hudson River.
He maneuvered around the crowds, left-behind shoes and spilled coffee. Then, he finally made his way above ground.
"I saw the second explosion right below. I just saw fire. Everything just fell. I ran like hell," Nieves said.
Julio Cruz, a stockbroker, said he waited for an hour for the chaos to subside before leaving the downtown area around the World Trade Center.
When he was leaving lower Manhattan, "it was pretty calm. No one was trampling; they were walking in files."
Earlier, throngs of people stampeded away from the collapsing towers, gasping for air in the thick white smoke and dust that engulfed them.
He believed Tuesday's attacks probably could not have been prevented.
"If it's going to happen, it's going to happen," he said.
Tuesday September 11 5:12 PM ET
Attacks Leave New York Shocked and Shut Down
By Genevieve Wilkinson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Panic and terror gave way to anger and disbelief on Tuesday as New Yorkers mourned the massive loss of life after two hijacked commercial planes slammed into the World Trade Center's twin towers, which later crumpled to the ground in a heap of concrete, flames and ash.
Thousands of hysterical people poured into the streets of lower Manhattan, choking on the soot that billowed throughout a 20-block radius around the collapsed towers in the immediate aftermath of the suspected terrorist attack.
``Debris was coming down all around,'' said Scott Kellan, a corporate bond trader at Garban Securities in one of the landmark 110-story towers, where some 40,000 people work. ''People were jumping out of buildings. This steel plank plummeted down right in front of me and knocked this guy down.''
He left his office in the second tower after the first column was hit shortly before 9 a.m.
By late afternoon, the evacuated Wall Street area was a surreal ghost town, devoid of the hustle and bustle of pinstripes and briefcases. In their place were ambulances, police cars and school buses filled with firemen.
Seven hours after the attacks, great plumes of smoke still floated high above the once-immutable skyline of New York City formerly anchored by the world-famous towers. One building in the trade center complex was still burning.
STUNNED AND SHOCKED
From the soot-covered downtown financial district to Times Square and the residential Upper West Side, New Yorkers were stunned and shocked.
While there were no official estimates of deaths in the coordinated terrorist attack on U.S. soil, with the Pentagon also ripped open by a crashing plane, the losses were feared to be enormous.
The blare of sirens rang loud in the city of 8 million people, hospitals were overwhelmed and blood banks were running low. There was a four-hour wait to give blood at St. Luke's Roosevelt hospital, and a three-hour wait at the Red Cross. Police motorcycle escorts rushed ahead of blood trucks transporting supplies from site to site.
By mid-afternoon, subway service was partially restored, but LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark Airports, like all U.S. airports, remained closed. The city remained under siege, with tens of thousands of commuters stranded in Manhattan.
The Lincoln and Holland tunnels and the George Washington Bridge connecting Manhattan with New Jersey were closed. The Midtown Tunnel to Long Island was open only for outbound traffic and the Long Island Expressway and Southern State Parkway were also shut. Ferry service to Staten Island was also suspended, the New York Police Department said.
With most cellular phone service out -- their antennas were fixed atop the World Trade Center -- dozens of weeping people lined up to use pay phones to call their loved ones.
In midtown Manhattan, crowds gathered around the Empire State Building, where in 1945 a B-25 bomber plowed into the side of the Art Deco building, killing 14 people.
People stood silently around cars listening to live radio reports of the attacks and the subsequent pandemonium.
``Stay calm, stay at home,'' Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told citizens. He advised people in southern Manhattan, south of Canal Street, to ``get out. Walk slowly and carefully. If you can't figure what else to do, just walk north.''
Extreme shock, anger and dismay overtook hundreds of Americans and tourists who stood stunned in Times Square after the multiple attacks, which shook the country's confidence.
New Yorkers and tourists stared in disbelief at the giant video screens in Times Square that showed heavy white smoke obliterating Manhattan's lower skyline.
"It's crazy,'' said James Price, 33, who works at a nearby law firm, just a few miles north of the trade center.
"That's what makes the city go. And now they're gone. It seems like anything can happen to us. We're not protected at all,'' Price said.
Chris Savino, a 41-year-old filmmaker, looked up at the ABC News video screen and said: ``This is like Pearl Harbor. I never knew in my lifetime I would see this. It's unfathomable.''
Construction workers at a site for a new Toys 'R Us store on Broadway hung signs saying ``Pray for families & victims'' and ''God Bless America,'' prompting applause from onlookers.
At Colombia University on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, students gathered in front of televisions. ``Everyone is in shock. People are still on campus. Everyone has their cell phones out,'' said graduate student Lida Poletz, adding that all classes were canceled.
Tuesday September 11 6:22 PM ET
World Trade Center Attacked, Towers Collapse
By Ellen Wulfhorst
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two hijacked commercial planes slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center on Tuesday morning, causing both 110-story landmarks to collapse in devastating clouds of flames and smoke and killing a ''tremendous number'' of people starting their workday inside.
The first plane struck the northern tower at about 8:45 a.m., and a second plane hit the southern tower about 15 minutes later.
The unprecedented deadly attacks, believed to be coordinated terrorist acts aimed at the heart of the nation's financial district, paralyzed business and would keep markets closed at least through Wednesday, just one measure of the attack's stunning impact.
As the planes struck the buildings that housed more than 40,000 workers on a typical day, the upper floors of both towers exploded into flames, and gaping holes in the once-mighty buildings could be seen for miles.
The south tower fell over in a spectacular burst of smoke, glass and metal about an hour later, and the north tower collapsed with a horrific roar a few minutes after that.
In late afternoon, another Trade Center office building known as No. 7, also collapsed.
Where the towers once stood at the southern tip of Manhattan, there was nothing but rubble and fire and smoke and a gaping hole in the skyline.
In the nightmarish minutes before the two towers fell, desperate people could be seen jumping from the highest floors that were in flames.
``Bodies were just dropping, jumping. They were jumping like, first it was two. And, then, another one, and another one. I couldn't look,'' said one eyewitness.
``I don't know if they were already dead or just going to die,'' added Ellen Leon, who watched from her nearby office.
The planes appeared to be part of a coordinated attack on U.S. centers of power, as another plane crashed at the Pentagon and one other airliner crashed in Pennsylvania. President George W. Bush called it an ``apparent terrorist attack.''
WORST ATTACK IN NEW YORK HISTORY
There were no official estimates of the death toll in the attack, the worst in New York history, and experts said it could be several days before the full extent was known.
Before the buildings collapsed, a person who answered the phone on the trading floor at dealer-broker Cantor Fitzgerald, located near the top of the World Trade Center, said, ``We're fucking dying'' and hung up. There was screaming and yelling in the background. A follow-up call was not answered.
Rescuers were having trouble reaching any survivors because fires were still raging and there were fears that one remaining wall of the south tower also could still collapse.
``No bodies have been brought to us yet,'' a spokeswoman for the city's medical examiner's office said.
Many feared the worst. At insurance brokerage firm Marsh & McLennan, only 500 of its 1,700 workers in the World Trade Center were accounted for, a spokeswoman said.
Six hundred people were treated at hospitals, including 200 critically injured, and 1,500 others were ``walking wounded'' at a nearby park, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said.
Temporary morgues were set up at hospitals and on piers along the Hudson River.
American Airlines said two of its flights had crashed with a total of 156 people on board -- one going to Los Angeles from Boston and another to Los Angeles from Washington Dulles. United Airlines said its flight from Newark to San Francisco crashed with 45 people on board, and a plane from Boston to Los Angeles crashed with 65 people on board.
'THE PLANE LOOKED STRANGE'
Eyewitness Rob Nelson said he clearly saw the red and blue AA logo of American Airlines on the first plane. ``The plane looked strange. It was flying very low, heading south, and it hit the north side of the building,'' he said.
The downtown area where the World Trade Center was located was evacuated by order of the mayor, who said a ``tremendous number of lives'' were lost.
``We are all undergoing right now something that we have had nightmares about, but probably thought would not happen,'' he said.
The towers were part of the largest commercial complex in the world that housed financial and government offices as well as an extensive subway and commuter train station underneath.
They were a popular tourist destination, but neither the observations decks nor the well-known ``Windows on the World'' restaurant were open yet.
As the towers fell, streets and nearby buildings in the dense neighborhood were bombarded with concrete and twisted metal. Fleeing people were covered in dust and shards of glass as they streamed through the city's streets.
Dozens of victims were being taken by ferry across the Hudson River to Hoboken, New Jersey, where they lay on stretchers, limped on crutches and stumbled with torn clothing in a scene that resembled a war zone.
Mike Wilson, who worked on the 51st floor of one tower, said after the plane hit, some of his co-workers chose to wait in their offices because the stairwells were so crowded and remained inside when the tower fell.
``People figured that once the plane hit, that was it. People didn't think that the buildings were going to fall down,'' he said. ``Those people and all the firemen going up, well, they are all dead.''
All over the city, people gathered in crowds to gape at the billowing smoke where the twin towers once stood. Strangers stood together, shocked and in tears, listening to radio reports played from cars parked on the streets.
Members of the state's National Guard patrolled the streets, and fighter planes were overhead.
``The magnitude is something that has us all horrified,'' said Gov. George Pataki, who declared a state of disaster emergency.
As sirens wailed, hospitals were overwhelmed and made urgent appeals for blood donations.
Authorities practically sealed off New York, closing and evacuating the three major airports and setting up roadblocks to stop all inbound traffic on tunnels and bridges.
Many businesses closed, and crowds of people made their way home by walking across bridges to Brooklyn and Queens.
Primary elections for mayor and other races were canceled, and the United Nations was evacuated.
There were moments of heroism.
``I started going down the steps,'' said one survivor. ``There was a woman in a wheelchair. I got her into a strap of the wheelchair and just carried her down the steps, down 68 floors, man. We got lost on the fifth floor. It was chaos.''
George Oakley fled the mezzanine of the World Trade Center when he heard a loud explosion.
``When I got outside, there was literally a snowstorm of paper, clothing, ladies shoes, and I even saw a brown burning jacket falling to the ground,'' he said. ``The dust storm was about three stories high.''
The 28-year-old towers were the scene of a 1993 car bomb attack that killed six people and injured more than 1,000.
Tuesday September 11 8:08 PM ET
CORRECTED: Hijacked Planes Destroy Twin Towers, Burn Pentagon
(Correcting figure in 21st paragraph)
By Alan Elsner and Arthur Spiegelman
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three planes commandeered by unknown hijackers slammed into the Pentagon and New York's landmark World Trade Center on Tuesday, demolishing the twin 110-story towers that were once the tallest buildings in the world and possibly burying thousands of people alive.
It was the worst attack on American soil since the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 and gave the country a new date that will live in infamy.
The twin towers which symbolize U.S. financial clout were toppled and the Pentagon, the nerve-center of the nation's military might, severely damaged.
The attack forced the first mandatory evacuation of the U.S. Capitol and drove congressional leaders into safe but secret locations while it drew bipartisan vows of retaliation.
No group took immediate responsibility for the attack but suspicions centered on an implacable U.S. foe -- exiled Saudi Osama bin Laden, whose followers were held responsible for murderous attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa.
Explosions lit up the night sky in Kabul, Afghanistan, the nation where bin Laden is believed to live and reports said there were missiles flying across the city. A senior Pentagon official denied U.S. involvement and responsibility for the attack was laid at the feet of an Afghan opposition group.
'HORRIFIC' -- SAYS MAYOR GIULIANI
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said the death toll could ultimately be ``horrific'' and that the city's hospitals were swamped with casualties. Hundreds of firefighters and police are missing and feared dead after trying to rescue others.
The entire nation was brought to a halt by scenes of terrified people fleeing the mayhem flashing across TV screens. The mighty twin towers, anchoring the southern tip of Manhattan imploded one at a time, sending a massive plume of dust and smoke billowing over the city.
Officials feared the death toll could climb into the thousands -- perhaps tens of thousands -- as 40,000 people alone worked in the steel and glass Trade Center towers and a nearby 47-story building, World Trade Center No. 7, which collapsed seven hours later after a raging fire.
World leaders condemned the attack. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called the strikes a ``declaration of war against the civilized world.''
The attacks presented President Bush with the toughest test of his eight-month presidency. He cut short a trip to Florida and flew to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, after stopping briefly in Louisiana where he vowed to bring those responsible to justice. Aides said he planned to address the nation from Washington later on Tuesday.
The attacks, which involved the hijacking of four commercial planes -- two from Boston, one each from Newark and Dulles, outside Washington -- brought normal life across the country to a standstill, turning major cities into eerie ghost towns. Attorney General John Ashcroft said that least one of the planes was commandeered by hijackers armed with knives.
All financial markets were closed and millions of workers sent home early. All commercial flights were canceled and all airports shut in an unprecedented move. For the first time since D-Day, major league baseball games were canceled
KAMIKAZE ATTACK ON PENTAGON
The crisis began shortly before 9 a.m. when the first plane slammed into the north tower in the heart of New York's financial district, opening a massive hole near the top. A second plane followed 15 minutes later, scoring a direct hit on the south tower.
Minutes later came the report of a third kamikaze attack on the Pentagon, in Northern Virginia across the Potomac from Washington. That building, too, burst into flames.
Then came the deadliest blow of all as first one and then the second of New York's twin towers collapsed with a roar in a burst of smoke, fire and metal.
The towers -- which opened for business in 1975 -- briefly claimed the title of the world's tallest buildings but soon surpassed by the Sears Tower in Chicago. But the twin towers became one of New York's best-known landmarks, rivaling the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.
Not knowing if more attacks were on the way, authorities evacuated key landmarks like the White House, the fire-damaged Pentagon, the Sears Tower in Chicago, the CIA building and the Walt Disney theme parks.
It was the worst attack on American soil since Japanese war planes bombed the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, killing 2,280 soldiers and 68 civilians and forcing the United States into World War Two.
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told CNN, ``This is comparable to Pearl Harbor and we must have the same response and the people who did it must have the same end as the people who attacked Pearl Harbor.''
266 ABOARD FOUR HIJACKED PLANES
Authorities said at least 266 people were on board four hijacked planes -- two that crashed into the twin towers, one that slammed into the Pentagon and a fourth that crashed in a wooded area near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
``I looked outside and saw a big chunk of the World Trade Center missing,'' said Verizon employee Ellen Leon. ``Fifteen minutes later I saw people jumping out of the building. Bodies were flying out. I don't know if they were already dead or if they were just going to die.''
The attacks triggered scenes of panic, disbelief and heroism in the largest U.S. city, where police and firefighters risked their lives to save people from the twin towers before its 200,000 tons of steel frame and 43,000 windows came smashing down, covering lower Manhattan in a shower of soot.
``It's nuts, there is debris and dust everywhere, and it looks as though a volcano erupted down there,'' said Michael DeVita, who was working on the 84th floor of World Trade Center Building No. 2 when the first plane hit Building No. 1.
``Hundreds of people are burned from head to toe,'' said Dr. Steven Stern at St. Vincent's Hospital in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan. Rescue workers used commuter ferries to carry victims across the Hudson River to safety in Hoboken, New Jersey, where the scene resembled a war zone, with victims laid out on stretchers, limping on crutches, and others walking without a shirt and with their pants torn.
BUSH VOWS VENGEANCE
Bush vowed to bring those responsible for the attacks to justice as he stopped in Louisiana to talk to the nation. ``Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts,'' the president said.
He had begun his day in Florida prepared to speak about education but quickly changed his plans when the news of the attacks emerged.
With a military jet at each wingtip, Bush's Air Force One aircraft rushed to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and was immediately surrounded by soldiers bearing automatic weapons and dressed in camouflage fatigues.
He was on the ground there only briefly before heading for Nebraska, landing at Offutt, a base with a key role in strategic nuclear planning under its U.S. Strategic Command.
Disaster relief agencies said they were working with the military to rush thousands of pints of blood to New York City and Washington to treat an untold number of injuries from aerial hijack attacks in those cities.
Foreign financial markets fell sharply on news of the attacks. The London FTSE index plummeted 5.7 percent and Latin American markets tumbled. Oil prices spiked up. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat condemned the attack but some Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories and in Lebanon celebrated.
Bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire and Islamic militant, was blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in which 224 people died.
An Arab journalist with access to bin Laden told Reuters in London the renegade Saudi had warned three weeks ago of an ''unprecedented attack'' on U.S. interests.
Tuesday September 11 8:10 PM ET
Hijacked Planes Destroy Twin Towers, Burn Pentagon
By Alan Elsner and Arthur Spiegelman
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three planes commandeered by unknown hijackers slammed into the Pentagon and New York's landmark World Trade Center on Tuesday, demolishing the twin 110-story towers that were once the tallest buildings in the world and possibly burying thousands of people alive.
It was the worst attack on American soil since the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 and gave the country a new date that will live in infamy.
The twin towers which symbolize U.S. financial clout were toppled and the Pentagon, the nerve-center of the nation's military might, severely damaged.
The attack forced the first mandatory evacuation of the U.S. Capitol and drove congressional leaders into safe but secret locations while it drew bipartisan vows of retaliation.
No group took immediate responsibility for the attack but suspicions centered on an implacable U.S. foe -- exiled Saudi Osama bin Laden, whose followers were held responsible for murderous attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa.
Explosions lit up the night sky in Kabul, Afghanistan, the nation where bin Laden is believed to live and reports said there were missiles flying across the city. A senior Pentagon official denied U.S. involvement and responsibility for the attack was laid at the feet of an Afghan opposition group.
'HORRIFIC' -- SAYS MAYOR GIULIANI
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said the death toll could ultimately be ``horrific'' and that the city's hospitals were swamped with casualties. Hundreds of firefighters and police are missing and feared dead after trying to rescue others.
The entire nation was brought to a halt by scenes of terrified people fleeing the mayhem flashing across TV screens. The mighty twin towers, anchoring the southern tip of Manhattan imploded one at a time, sending a massive plume of dust and smoke billowing over the city.
Officials feared the death toll could climb into the thousands -- perhaps tens of thousands -- as 40,000 people alone worked in the steel and glass Trade Center towers and a nearby 47-story building, World Trade Center No. 7, which collapsed seven hours later after a raging fire.
World leaders condemned the attack. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called the strikes a ``declaration of war against the civilized world.''
The attacks presented President Bush with the toughest test of his eight-month presidency. He cut short a trip to Florida and flew to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, after stopping briefly in Louisiana where he vowed to bring those responsible to justice. Aides said he planned to address the nation from Washington later on Tuesday.
The attacks, which involved the hijacking of four commercial planes -- two from Boston, one each from Newark and Dulles, outside Washington -- brought normal life across the country to a standstill, turning major cities into eerie ghost towns. Attorney General John Ashcroft said that least one of the planes was commandeered by hijackers armed with knives.
All financial markets were closed and millions of workers sent home early. All commercial flights were canceled and all airports shut in an unprecedented move. For the first time since D-Day, major league baseball games were canceled
KAMIKAZE ATTACK ON PENTAGON
The crisis began shortly before 9 a.m. when the first plane slammed into the north tower in the heart of New York's financial district, opening a massive hole near the top. A second plane followed 15 minutes later, scoring a direct hit on the south tower.
Minutes later came the report of a third kamikaze attack on the Pentagon, in Northern Virginia across the Potomac from Washington. That building, too, burst into flames.
Then came the deadliest blow of all as first one and then the second of New York's twin towers collapsed with a roar in a burst of smoke, fire and metal.
The towers -- which opened for business in 1975 -- briefly claimed the title of the world's tallest buildings but soon surpassed by the Sears Tower in Chicago. But the twin towers became one of New York's best-known landmarks, rivaling the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.
Not knowing if more attacks were on the way, authorities evacuated key landmarks like the White House, the fire-damaged Pentagon, the Sears Tower in Chicago, the CIA building and the Walt Disney theme parks.
It was the worst attack on American soil since Japanese war planes bombed the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, killing 2,280 soldiers and 68 civilians and forcing the United States into World War Two.
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told CNN, ``This is comparable to Pearl Harbor and we must have the same response and the people who did it must have the same end as the people who attacked Pearl Harbor.''
266 ABOARD FOUR HIJACKED PLANES
Authorities said at least 266 people were on board four hijacked planes -- two that crashed into the twin towers, one that slammed into the Pentagon and a fourth that crashed in a wooded area near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
"I looked outside and saw a big chunk of the World Trade Center missing" said Verizon employee Ellen Leon. "Fifteen minutes later I saw people jumping out of the building. Bodies were flying out. I don't know if they were already dead or if they were just going to die."
The attacks triggered scenes of panic, disbelief and heroism in the largest U.S. city, where police and firefighters risked their lives to save people from the twin towers before its 200,000 tons of steel frame and 43,000 windows came smashing down, covering lower Manhattan in a shower of soot.
"It's nuts, there is debris and dust everywhere, and it looks as though a volcano erupted down there," said Michael DeVita, who was working on the 84th floor of World Trade Center Building No. 2 when the first plane hit Building No. 1.
"Hundreds of people are burned from head to toe," said Dr. Steven Stern at St. Vincent's Hospital in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan. Rescue workers used commuter ferries to carry victims across the Hudson River to safety in Hoboken, New Jersey, where the scene resembled a war zone, with victims laid out on stretchers, limping on crutches, and others walking without a shirt and with their pants torn.
BUSH VOWS VENGEANCE
Bush vowed to bring those responsible for the attacks to justice as he stopped in Louisiana to talk to the nation. ``Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts,'' the president said.
He had begun his day in Florida prepared to speak about education but quickly changed his plans when the news of the attacks emerged.
With a military jet at each wingtip, Bush's Air Force One aircraft rushed to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and was immediately surrounded by soldiers bearing automatic weapons and dressed in camouflage fatigues.
He was on the ground there only briefly before heading for Nebraska, landing at Offutt, a base with a key role in strategic nuclear planning under its U.S. Strategic Command.
Disaster relief agencies said they were working with the military to rush thousands of pints of blood to New York City and Washington to treat an untold number of injuries from aerial hijack attacks in those cities.
Foreign financial markets fell sharply on news of the attacks. The London FTSE index plummeted 5.7 percent and Latin American markets tumbled. Oil prices spiked up. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat condemned the attack but some Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories and in Lebanon celebrated.
Bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire and Islamic militant, was blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in which 224 people died.
An Arab journalist with access to bin Laden told Reuters in London the renegade Saudi had warned three weeks ago of an ''unprecedented attack'' on U.S. interests.
Tuesday September 11 9:36 PM ET
Hijacked Planes Destroy Twin Towers, 1,000s Killed
By Alan Elsner and Arthur Spiegelman
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three planes commandeered by unknown hijackers slammed into the Pentagon and New York's landmark World Trade Center on Tuesday, demolishing the twin 110-story towers that were once the tallest buildings in the world and burying thousands of people alive.
It was the worst attack on American soil since the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 and gave the country a new date that will live in infamy.
The twin towers which symbolize U.S. financial clout were toppled and the Pentagon, the nerve-center of the nation's military might, severely damaged with flames still burning late into Tuesday night.
Addressing the nation after a day of flying across the country, a somber President Bush said, ``Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.'' That comment was the first official confirmation that thousands had been killed in the day's coordinated carnage.
The president vowed that while ``terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings ... they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel but they cannot shatter the steel of American resolve.''
He said the search was underway for those responsible and added, ``We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbored them.''
'HORRIFIC' TOLL -- SAYS MAYOR GIULIANI
While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, suspicions have centered on an implacable U.S. foe -- exiled Saudi Osama bin Laden, who is being sheltered in Afghanistan by the Taliban government.
Explosions lit up the night sky in the Afghan capital of Kabul and reports said there were missiles flying across the city. But a senior Pentagon official denied U.S. involvement and responsibility for the attack rested with an Afghan opposition group.
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said the death toll could ultimately be ``horrific'' and that the city's hospitals were swamped with casualties. Hundreds of firefighters and police are missing and feared dead after trying to rescue others.
Officials feared the death toll could climb into the tens of thousands because as 40,000 people alone worked in the steel and glass Trade Center towers and a nearby 47-story building, World Trade Center No. 7, which collapsed seven hours later after a raging fire. A hotel in the complex was also reported to have collapsed.
It was a day of horror, in which people jumped out windows scores of stories above the ground to avoid being burned alive or buried in tons of steel.
A man who answered the phone on the trading floor of broker Cantor Fitzgerald located near the top of the World Trade Center said, ``We are f+++ing dying!'' when asked what was happening. There was screaming and yelling in the background.
The entire nation was brought to a halt by scenes of terrified people fleeing the mayhem flashing across TV screens. The mighty twin towers, anchoring the southern tip of Manhattan imploded one at a time, sending a massive plume of dust and smoke billowing over the city.
AN ACT CONDEMNED
World leaders condemned the attack. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called the strikes a ``declaration of war against the civilized world.''
The attacks, which involved the hijacking of four commercial planes -- two from Boston, one each from Newark and Dulles, outside Washington -- brought normal life across the country to a standstill, turning major cities into eerie ghost towns. Attorney General John Ashcroft said that least one of the planes was commandeered by hijackers armed with knives.
All financial markets were closed and millions of workers sent home early. All commercial flights were canceled and all airports shut in an unprecedented move. For the first time since D-Day, major league baseball games were canceled.
The crisis began shortly before 9 a.m. when the first plane slammed into the north tower in the heart of New York's financial district, opening a massive hole near the top.
A second plane followed 15 minutes later, scoring a direct hit on the south tower. Minutes later came the report of a third kamikaze attack on the Pentagon, in Northern Virginia across the Potomac from Washington. That building, too, burst into flames.
Then came the deadliest blow of all as first one and then the second of New York's twin towers collapsed with a roar in a burst of smoke, fire and metal.
The towers -- which opened for business amid great fanfare in 1975 -- briefly claimed the title of the world's tallest buildings but were soon surpassed by the Sears Tower in Chicago. The towers became one of New York's best-known landmarks, rivaling the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.
Not knowing if more attacks were on the way, authorities evacuated landmarks like the White House, the Pentagon, the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Walt Disney theme parks.
It was the worst attack on American soil since Japanese war planes bombed the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, killing 2,280 soldiers and 68 civilians and forcing the United States into World War Two.
266 ABOARD FOUR HIJACKED PLANES
Authorities said at least 266 people were on board four hijacked planes -- two that crashed into the twin towers, one that slammed into the Pentagon and a fourth that crashed in a wooded area near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
"I looked outside and saw a big chunk of the World Trade Center missing," said Verizon employee Ellen Leon. "Fifteen minutes later I saw people jumping out of the building. Bodies were flying out. I don't know if they were already dead or if they were just going to die."
The attacks triggered scenes of panic, disbelief and heroism in the largest U.S. city, where police and firefighters risked their lives to save people from the twin towers before its 200,000 tons of steel frame and 43,000 windows came smashing down. A police source said unconfirmed reports indicated there 265 firefighters and 85 policemen feared dead.
"Hundreds of people are burned from head to toe,'' said Dr. Steven Stern at St. Vincent's Hospital in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan. Rescue workers used commuter ferries to carry victims across the Hudson River to safety in Hoboken, New Jersey, where the scene resembled a war zone, with victims laid out on stretchers, limping on crutches, and others walking without a shirt and with their pants torn.
Disaster relief agencies said they were working with the military to rush thousands of pints of blood to New York City and Washington to treat an untold number of injuries from aerial hijack attacks in those cities.
Foreign financial markets fell sharply on news of the attacks. The London FTSE index plummeted 5.7 percent and Latin American markets tumbled. Oil prices spiked up. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat condemned the attack but some Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories and in Lebanon celebrated.
Bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire and Islamic militant, was blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in which 224 people died.
An Arab journalist with access to bin Laden told Reuters in London the renegade Saudi had warned three weeks ago of an ''unprecedented attack'' on U.S. interests.
- Taliban Tell U.S. That Bin Laden Innocent - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Palestinians Celebrate Attacks with Gunfire - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Arafat Condemns Plane Attacks in U.S. - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Arab Street Cheers, Govts Lament U.S. Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Hijacked-Plane Attacks Saturate TV Networks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Bush Says He Has Taken Steps to Protect Americans - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Attacks Leave New York Shocked and Shutdown - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Mexico-U.S. Border Closed, Flights Canceled - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- World Goes on Alert After Massive Attacks on U.S - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- MRV Communications CFO Dies in Jet Crash - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- American Airlines Confirms Loss of Two Planes - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Trade Center Victims Stream to Hospitals - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Telecom Networks Stressed, but Operating - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Diplomats, Politicians Urge Bush to Retaliate - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Pentagon Crash Jet Hijacked with Knives, Cutters - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Israel Urges Fight on 'Terror,' Calls Mourning Day - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Afghan Explosions Not U.S. Strike -U.S. Officials - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Report: Explosions Reported in Afghanistan - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Putin Expresses Condolences to American People - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- U.S. Virtually Shuts Down After Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- New York Hospitals Await Rush of Casualties - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- World Aghast with Horror at U.S. Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- FAA Suspends All U.S. Air Traffic Until Wednesday - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Trade Center Blow Paralyzes Transportation - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Hijackers Were Armed with Knives, Cutters -Reports - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- World Trade Center Attacked, Towers Collapse - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Bush Vows to Hunt Terrorists, Says Thousands Died - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Bush Says Thousands Killed in Plane Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Hijacked Planes Destroy Twin Towers, Burn Pentagon - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Pentagon Smoldering, Bush to Address Nation - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- All 45 Believed Dead in Crash Near Pittsburgh - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Verizon to Open Manhattan Payphones to Free Calls - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- NY Firefighters Take Heavy Toll at Twin Towers - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Experts Say Attacks Show Lax Security on US Flights - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- U.S. Attacks May Be Bin Laden Linked-Officials - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Hijacked Planes Destroy Twin Towers, 1,000s Killed - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Aircraft Crashes Into Pentagon, Dozens Dead - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- World Air Chaos Spreading to Asia After U.S. Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- NASA Closes Florida Spaceport, Sends Workers Home - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Attacks Shock, Still Cities and Towns Across U.S. - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- U.S. Attacks Shock Arafat, Ready to Hunt Attackers - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Afghan Taliban Rule Out Bin Laden in U.S. Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Air Attacks Create Another Date to Live in Infamy - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Attacks Trigger Nationwide Evacuations - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Airlines: 4 Planes Crash, 2 Each American, United - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Experts Say U.S. Kamikaze Attacks Unprecedented - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Laura Bush, Daughters at Secure Locations - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- NY Mayor Calls for Evacuation of Lower Manhattan - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Chicago's Tall Buildings, Exchanges Evacuated - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- United Airlines Confirms Plane Crash Near Pittsburgh - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Disney Closes Orlando Parks Because of Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- All Major League Games Cancelled After Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- New York Primary Election Called Off - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Powell to Fly Home After 'Great Tragedy' - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- SEC: U.S. Markets Won't Open Today - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Report: Planes in Trade Center Explosion Were Hijacked - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- SEC: U.S. Markets Won't Open Today - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Report: Planes in Trade Center Explosion Were Hijacked - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- U.S. Aviation Grinds to a Halt After Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Palestinian Group Claims Responsibility for WTC Attack - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Palestinian Group Claims Responsibility for WTC Attack - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Bush Lands at Strategic Air Command HQ in Nebraska - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Relief Agencies Rushing Blood to U.S. Attack Sites - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Attacks Strike at Heart of Federal Washington - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Psychologists: Attacks Will Leave Deep Scars - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Bush to Address Nation at 8:30 P.M. - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Internet News Traffic Soars Following U.S. Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Bush Crisscrosses Country in Secret After Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- U.S. Commercial Aviation Still Halted After Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Yankee Stadium Staff Evacuated After Attacks in U.S. - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Fingers Pointed at Bin Laden Over U.S. Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Aircraft Crashes Into Pentagon, Triggering Chaos - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- WTC Attack to Cost Insurers Billions - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Report: Justice Official's Wife Dead in Crash - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Relief Agencies Rushing Blood to U.S. Attack Sites - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Attacks Strike at Heart of Federal Washington - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Psychologists: Attacks Will Leave Deep Scars - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Bush to Address Nation at 8:30 P.M. - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Internet News Traffic Soars Following U.S. Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Bush Crisscrosses Country in Secret After Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- U.S. Commercial Aviation Still Halted After Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Yankee Stadium Staff Evacuated After Attacks in U.S. - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Fingers Pointed at Bin Laden Over U.S. Attacks - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Aircraft Crashes Into Pentagon, Triggering Chaos - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- WTC Attack to Cost Insurers Billions - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
- Report: Justice Official's Wife Dead in Crash - Reuters (Sep 11, 2001)
