( also September 11th )
September 11, 2001, the day on which a series of major terrorist attacks took place in New York and other places in the US. The terrorists carried out the attacks using four passenger planes that they hijacked on flights from the east coast of the US. At 8.46 a.m. the first plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York. At 9.03 a.m. the second plane crashed into the south tower. Less than 90 minutes later both towers fell down. The third plane crashed into the Pentagon and the fourth into a field in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3 000 people died in the attacks, a greater number than were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor in the Second World War. The place where the World Trade Center once stood is now known as Ground Zero . The attacks were seen as the work of Al Quaeda, a terrorist organization led by Osama Bin Laden. They resulted in strong anti-terrorist laws being passed in many countries and a US-led war in Afghanistan, where Osama Bin Laden was thought to be hiding.
See also 9/11 .