On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people were killed in a series of airline hijackings and suicide attacks in the US, in what is deemed as the deadliest terrorist attack in American history. Four planes were hijacked by 19 militants associated with the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. The militants crashed three buildings and the fourth in Pennsylvania.
Two planes crashed into two towers of the World Trade Center in New York. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, DC. A fourth plane, which was presumably heading towards the White House or the US Capitol, was heroically diverted by passengers and crashed in an empty field in Pennsylvania.
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was considered to be the mastermind behind the attacks, while Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the operational planner. All 19 militants were killed in the attacks. In 2011, Osama bin Laden was killed by the US forces, while Mohammed was captured in 2003.
Here are some other events that took place on September 11:
The Americans were defeated by the British forces led by General William Howe at the Battle of the Brandywine in the American Revolution.
1885 | English writer DH Lawrence, who is famous for his novels Sons and Lovers (1913) and The Rainbow (1915), was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire.
1893 | Swami Vivekananda delivered his famous speech at the first conference of the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago.
1906 | Mahatma Gandhi held his first ‘Satyagraha’ campaign in South Africa. He delivered a speech before 3,000 Indians in Johannesburg in which he spoke of a non-violent resistance to oppose racist policies in the country.
1941 | The construction of the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US Department of Defense, in Arlington county, Virginia, began.
1944 | US President Franklin D Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met in Canada for the second Quebec Conference to decide on advancing against Germany on two western fronts.
1967 | Militaries of India and China clashed near Nathu La. The brawl between Indian and Chinese armies escalated into an artillery firing. The Indian army is believed to have threatened to bring fighter jets.
1973 | A coup, led by General Augusto Pinochet, to overthrow the government of President Salvador Allende of Chile started.
2008 | A fire broke out in the Channel Tunnel, which runs between Britain and France underneath the English Channel. All rail services on the undersea route were suspended for some time.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
First Published: Sept 11, 2022 9:00 AM IST
