Security

A Breakdown of the 9/11 Attacks and their Total Fatalities

BBC · 2 weeks ago · Read the Full Story on BBC
A Breakdown of the 9/11 Attacks and their Total Fatalities
AI SUMMARY

A series of events marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, which claimed 2,977 lives and reshaped global security.

  • On September 11, 2001, hijackers seized four US passenger jets to carry out coordinated attacks in New York and Washington.
  • Two planes struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, causing both 110-storey towers to collapse within two hours.
  • A third plane destroyed the western face of the Pentagon, while a fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back.
  • A total of 2,977 people died in the attacks, excluding the 19 hijackers, including 246 people on the planes, 2,606 at the Twin Towers, and 125 at the Pentagon.
  • Victims included citizens of 77 different countries and 441 New York City first responders.
  • Health problems linked to toxic dust and smoke from the towers' collapse have since claimed more than three times the number of lives lost in the original attacks.
  • The Islamist extremist network al-Qaeda, led by Osama Bin Laden and with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as an alleged mastermind, planned the attacks.
  • Nineteen hijackers carried out the operation, consisting of 15 Saudi nationals, two from the United Arab Emirates, one from Egypt, and one from Lebanon.
  • In response, the US-led international coalition invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, eventually locating and killing Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.
  • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in 2003, detained at Guantanamo Bay, and scheduled for a trial in June 2028.
  • The legacy of 9/11 includes globally tightened flight safety, the creation of the US Department of Homeland Security, and the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site with a memorial, museum, and the One World Trade Center.