Friday, September 11, 2026

25 Years After: How al-Qaeda terrorists crashed hijacked plane into Twin Towers, Pentagon, killed 2,977 people on September 11

Today, September 11, marks the 25th anniversary of the deadly terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in America, killing 2,977 people.

• September 11, 2026
Twin Tower attack
Twin Tower attack

Today, September 11, marks the 25th anniversary of the deadly terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in America, killing 2,977 people.

Christened 9/11 for its day and month in 2001, the attacks saw Osama bin Laden-led al-Qaeda terrorists deploy four hijacked commercial planes to strike America.

Two of the hijacked planes crashed into and wrecked the World Trade Centre—Twin Towers—in New York City. One plane hit the Pentagon, the U.S. military headquarters outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against the hijackers.

The 9/11 attacks claimed the lives of people across 77 countries, causing global mourning and eliciiting a vigorous push and change in the global fight against terrorism.

Two years after the deadly attacks, in 2003, the prime mastermind of 9/11, Pennsylvania was captured in Pakistan.

Mr Mohammed has been in Guantanamo Bay military detention camp in Cuba since 2006, while Osama bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist group, was killed on May 2, 2011, by U.S. Navy SEALs in a raid at Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Last month, A U.S. military judge, Michael Schrama, ruled that the mastermind of 9/11 attack, and three others will stand trial in June 2028.

Today, Americans hold memorial services to mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation that marked Friday as ‘Patriot Day 2026’.

Remembering victims of the attack and recounting the sequence of event on 9/11, 2001. Which he discribed as the day “the peace of our Nation was shattered”, Mr Trump declared “Now, therefore, I, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 11, 2026, as Patriot Day, 2026.

“I call upon all departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the United States to display the Flag of the United States at half-staff in honor of the 2,977 victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001. I also invite the Governors of the United States and its Territories, and interested organizations and individuals, to join in this observance.”

On the morning of 9/11’s 25th anniversary, the UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, said, “Hatred and fear did not have the last word on 9/11.”

He paid tribute to the nearly 3,000 people who were killed, including 67 Britons.

“We will never forget these terrible events, but we refuse to be defined by them. Terror still knocks on the door of democracy, but the United Kingdom and the United States stand together in memory of those we lost, and in defence of the values we cherish,” Mr Burnham said.

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