September 11
/sepˌtembər ɪˈlevn/
/sepˌtembər ɪˈlevn/
(also September 11th
/sepˌtembər ɪˈlevnθ/
/sepˌtembər ɪˈlevnθ/
)- 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 attacks were seen as the work of Al Qaeda, 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. In 2011 he was found in Pakistan and killed.