On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists who were members of al-Qaeda, an Islamist extremist network, hijacked four commercial airplanes. In a coordinated attack, the hijackers intentionally flew two of the planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, and a third into the Pentagon. Learning about the other hijackings, passengers and crew members on the fourth plane launched a counterattack, spurring the hijacker pilot to crash the plane into a field in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on that day, the single largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil.
Click here for the full 9/11 Memorial September Attack Timeline.
Cover art by Art Spiegelman - September 24, 2001
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United Sates has published its own detailed timeline on the events of 9/11/2001.
Listen to Oral Histories and Read Written Recollections from Residents, Responders and other Survivors via the 9/11 Memorial Museum Site