Car bomb explodes in Washington
11/09/2001
- 15:42:43
There are reports that a car bomb has exploded outside the US State
Department in Washington.
This is the fifth
explosion in an hour and a half in a spate of major
terrorist attacks on the United States.
Tony
Blair postponed his TUC speech in Brighton and spoke of the mass
terrorism, saying it is “the greatest evil in our midst
today”.
He also expressed sympathy for President Bush and the American people.
Palestinians
in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have phoned news headquarters in
Jerusalem,
strenuously denying responsibility for the attack. http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=11492816&p=yy4933x9&n=11493330&x=
US closes germ warfare defense laboratory
11/09/2001
- 16:07:49
Authorities
went on alert from coast to coast Tuesday, halting all air
traffic, evacuating high-profile buildings and tightening security at
strategic facilities following the attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon.
Evacuations were ordered at the United Nations building in New York and
at
the Sears Tower in Chicago.
"Usually
the building is so full of activity, and now there's no one in the
hallways. It's creepy," said Cathy Grable, a 31-year-old interior
designer who was leaving the Sears Tower.
Security was increased at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, home to
the Army's main germ warfare defense laboratory.
Spokesman Charles Dasey said police at the gates were stopping cars
without
identification stickers and might search even those with stickers.
In
Los Angeles, the police went on tactical alert, and mobilized an
anti-terrorist division.
A
tactical alert means officers are held over from the earlier shift to
bolster the day shift and police only respond to priority calls.
In
Virginia, authorities ordered intensified security at the port complex
in Hampton Roads and imposed a lockdown of offices at the Capitol.
Under orders from the Federal Aviation Administration, airports
nationwide
halted all outbound flights, while keeping their runways open for
incoming plans.
"We're like everyone else, in shock," said Carol Windham, spokesman at
Birmingham International Airport in Alabama.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=19309788&p=y93yx6y6&n=19310625&x=
Third building on verge of collapse
11/09/2001
- 18:27:11
Another building in New York is on the verge of collapse.
The building near the collapsed World Trade Centre towers was hit and
damaged by falling debris.
CNN reports it looks likely to fall down.
The station has also aired reports of a gas leak in the wreckage of the
towers
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=21161442&p=zyy6z348&n=21162375&x=
Second
aircraft hits Pentagon
11/09/2001
- 16:05:16
A second aircraft has crashed into the Pentagon building.
It
is not known whether this plane was that which was hijacked from Boston
airport a short time ago,
the fourth such plane to be used in this
major attack on the US.
Earlier, a small plane
had slammed into the building and set it ablaze.
It is not yet possible to ascertain the number of dead or injured in
the various attacks in America’s biggest cities.
All flights to and from the US have been grounded, as have all
transatlantic flights to and from Canada.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=4477440&p=447763z&n=4477700&x=
Pentagon in state of collapse
11/09/2001
- 16:17:03
Part
of the Pentagon building outside Washington has collapsed.
It had been hit by two planes apparently hijacked by terrorists in
Boston earlier today.
It is understood the building is evacuated.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=1726050&p=y7z6yz4&n=1726135&x=
Reports
of helicopter crashing into Pentagon
11/09/2001
- 14:47:43
There
are reports that a helicopter has crashed into the Pentagon.
An eyewitness said that they saw the helicopter circle the building
and after it disappeared behind it, an explosion occured.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=1048410&p=yx48455&n=1048504&x=
Pentagon evacuated due to fire
11/09/2001
- 14:41:05
The Pentagon is being evacuated in expectation of a terrorist attack.
It is believed a fire has broken out in the building.
The White House has also been evacuated.
It is believed six people have died in the two crashes at the World
Trade Centre and that the number will rise.
Thousands of pieces of office paper was drifting over Brooklyn, three
miles from the twin towers.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=4822479&p=48zz686&n=4822773&x=
Hijacked plane had 168 passengers
11/09/2001
- 15:50:27
One
of the planes that slammed into the World Trade Centre
is believed
to have been carrying 168 passengers and crew when it was hijacked.
The
plane had been chartered to fly from Boston to Los Angeles
when it was
hijacked and used as part of a major terrorist attack on the United
States.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=21660564&p=zy66y493&n=21661547&x=
Hijacked plane heading for Washington
11/09/2001
- 15:44:42
Another hijacked aircraft is on its way to Washington.
The White House, US Treasury and the Capitol
as well as other major buildings in Washington and Chicago have all
been evacuated.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=9372228&p=937z63x&n=9372677&x=
747
down in Pennsylvania
11/09/2001
- 15:38:31
There are unconfirmed reports that a 747 has come down
in Pennsylvania.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=13752310&p=y375z9xx&n=13752917&x=
Pentagon collapses
11/09/2001
- 15:39:49
Parts of the Pentagon have collapsed after a plane crashed into it.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=7692300&p=769z63x&n=7692640&x=
Car bomb explodes at State Department
11/09/2001 - 15:35:36
There are reports of a car bombing at the State Department.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=21629824&p=zy63x75z&n=21630762&x=
Fears plane crashes were acts of terrorism
11/09/2001
- 14:27:35
FBI
investigating reports of plane hijacking before World Trade Centre
crashes.
The FBI told CNN that they have not yet established if it was a
terrorist act.
A US Official has said that the crashes " appear to be acts of
terrorism".
Two jet airliners crashed into the World Trade Centre in New York
within minutes of each other today.
Witnesses
were just describing the horror of the first impact when another
passenger plane
crashed into building, on the other side and below the
first impact.
An eyewitness said the first plane appeared to hit one of the
skyscraper’s twin towers about 20 floors from the top.
He said he thought the plane
was still embedded in the smashed and burning building.
Another he said it appeared that the first plane lined up on the tower
before crashing.
Jeanne
Yurman, told CNN she was watching TV when she heard what she thought
was a sonic boom. ‘‘I thought it was
Concorde,’’ she said.
There was
no immediate word on injuries or fatalities in the twin disasters,
which happened shortly before 9 am (1300 BST) and then right around 9 am
The towers were struck by bombers in February 1993.
’’The plane was coming in low and it looked like it
hit at a slight angle,’’ said Sean Murtagh, a CNN
vice president.
Large holes were visible in sides of the 110 storey buildings, landmark
twin towers.
The tops of the twin towers were obscured by the smoke.
Thousands
of pieces of what appeared to be office paper came drifting over
Brooklyn,
about three miles from the tower, one witness said.
The centre bombing in February 1993, killing six people and injured
more than 1,000 others.
In 1945, an Army Air Corps B-25, a twin-engine bomber, crashed into the
79th floor of the Empire State Building in dense fog.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=12648642&p=yz649y85&n=12649194&x=
Third explosion at World Trade Centre
11/09/2001
- 14:59:08
A huge explosion has occurred at the second of the two
twin towers hit by planes in New York.
The tower is now covered in smoke.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=5499036&p=5499z7z&n=5499321&x=
Part of second tower collapses
11/09/2001
- 15:02:21
There are reports that a part of the second tower has collapsed after
the new explosion.
Earliest
reports say that both passenger planes that crashed into the World
Trade Centre
had been hijacked by terrorists in Boston this morning.
Earliest reports indicate that at least six people have been killed and
that thousands are injured.
The first crash happened just before 9am New York time and the second
just ten minutes later.
It
is understood that the US
Government had issued a vague warning that US
citizens were in danger all over the world less than a week ago.
Six people died in a bombing on the World Trade Centre by an extremist
group in 1993.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=18431882&p=y843z673&n=18432703&x=
Both towers down after plane crashes
11/09/2001
- 15:32:37
Both the 1,360-ft towers have now collapsed. More than 50,000 people
work in
the complex.
Witness 'Dr Jim' described the second kamikaze attack: "A small plane - it looked like a propeller
plane - came in from the west and at about the 20 to
25 storey level, it disappeared - and then came the explosion."
Mr Winter, from Darlington, Co Durham, who works in one of the World
Trade
Centre towers, said: "Everybody is saying that this is a terrorist
attack
and everyone around here is panicking.
"It will have been really busy with people arrive in for work in the
financial district. It is just unbelievable that this is happening. Both
towers have been taken out. I just can't believe this is happening."
A person who answered the phone on the trading
floor at interdealer-broker
Cantor Fitzgerald, located near the top of the World Trade Center, said:
"We're f***ing dying," then hung up. There was screaming and yelling in
the
background. A follow up call was not answered.
"This has got to be one of the most horrendous terrorist attacks perhaps
ever perpetrated," terrorism expert Chris Yates told Sky News.
At least 1,000 people have been reported injured. The 110-storey 1,360ft
tower is in lower Manhattan.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=10348308&p=yx34875z&n=10348780&x=
Bush
to meet with security chiefs
11/09/2001
- 14:36:16
President
Bush will convene a national meeting of US security chiefs as soon as
he gets into New York.
It is believed one of the planes was an American Airlines 767 and the
other plane was believed to have originated in Boston.
All bridges and tunnels have been ordered closed in the New York area.
There is chaos on the streets around the twin towers.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=13721344&p=y37zy933&n=13722009&x=
Witnesses tell of horror at New York carnage
11/09/2001
- 16:15:40
‘I
was in the World
Financial Center looking out the window,’’ said one
woman.
‘‘I saw the
first plane and then 15 minutes later saw the other plane just slam
into the World Trade Center.’’
Another eyewitness, Associated
Press newsman Dunstan Prial,
described a strange sucking sound from the
Trade Center buildings after the first building collapsed.
‘‘Windows
shattered. People were screaming and diving for cover. People walked
around like ghosts,
covered in dirt, weeping and wandering dazed.’’ ‘‘It
sounded like a jet or rocket,’’ said
Eddie Gonzalez, a postal worker at a post office on West Broadway.
‘I
looked up and saw a huge explosion.
I didn’t see the impact. I just saw the
explosion.’’
Morning
commuters heading into Manhattan were stranded as the Lincoln Tunnel
was shut to incoming traffic.
Many left their cars and stood on the
ramp leading to the tunnel, staring in disbelief
at the thick cloud of
smoke pouring from the top of the two buildings.
On the streets of Manhattan, people stood in groups talking quietly or
watching on television at ground-level network studios.
Joan
Goldstein, communications project leader for AP, was on a bus from New
Jersey
when she saw ‘‘smoke pouring out of the World Trade
Center
building. We said, ‘Oh, my God! The World Trade
Center’s on fire!’’
Perhaps
10 minutes later, ‘‘All of a sudden, there was an
orange plume, a huge
explosion.
It shot out the back of the building. Everybody on the bus
was just moaning and gasping,’’
said Goldstein, who wept and trembled
as she spoke.
The plume was from the second plane,
but she didn’t see the plane because of the thick smoke.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=7743568&p=77439xx&n=7743913&x=
110 people on two United Airlines flights
11/09/2001
- 17:27:41
United Airlines has released information that 45 people were in the
crashed airplane
in Pittsburgh and a further 65 may have been in the
missing plane.
United
Flight 93, a Boeing 757, left Newark at 8:01 a.m. Eastern Time, headed
for
San Francisco with 38 passengers, two pilots and five flight
attendants, the airline said.
That flight crashed near Pittsburgh.
United 175, a Boeing 767, left Boston at 7:58 a.m. Eastern Time, bound
for Los Angeles.
That aircraft carried 56 passengers, two pilots and seven flight
attendants, the airline said.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=6302610&p=63xz88x&n=6302886&x=
United Airlines concerned about fourth plane
11/09/2001
- 16:59:51
American
Airlines issued a statement saying it had "lost" two aircraft
– Flight 11,
with 92 people aboard, and Flight 77 from Washington to
Los Angeles, carrying 64 people.
In
Pennsylvania, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from
Newark, N.J., to San Francisco,
crashed about 80 miles southeast of
Pittsburgh.
The fate of those aboard was not immediately known and it was not clear
if the crash was related to the disasters elsewhere.
In a statement, the airline also said it was deeply concerned about
another
plane, Flight 175, a Boeing 767 bound from Boston to Los Angeles.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=6301530&p=63xy8xx&n=6301806&x=
United Airlines confirms plane lost
11/09/2001
- 16:52:27
A
United Airlines plane crashed Tuesday morning just north of the Somerset
County Airport, the airline said.
The Boeing 757 was enroute from Newark, N.J. to San Francisco.
The plane crashed about 10 a.m. about 8 miles east of Jennerstown,
according
to county 911 dispatchers, WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh reported. "It shook the whole
station," said Bruce Grine, owner of Grine's Service
Center in Shanksville, about two and one-half miles from the crash.
"Everybody ran outside, and by that time the fire whistle was blowing."
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=1423557&p=y4z36y8&n=1423658&x=
Explosion at World Trade Centre
11/09/2001
- 13:55:33
The top of the World Trade Centre has just exploded after a plane
crashed into it.
There are flames billowing from the top of the tower and debris is
falling to the streets below.
There is speculation that the fuselage of the plane has exploded in the
building
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=21519036&p=zy5y996x&n=21520023&x=
Terrorist threats made against the White House
11/09/2001
- 14:52:26
The
FBI has evacuated the White House after they received what they said
were "creditable threats" against the White House.
All airports across the US have been shut down.
Paul
Begala, a Democratic consultant, said he witnessed a explosion near the
Pentagon
shortly after two planes crashed into World Trade Centre.
‘‘It was a huge fireball, a huge, orange
fireball,’’ Begala said.
He said another witness told him a
helicopter exploded.
Later a DFLP official denied responsibility for the attack.
The Chicago Stock Exchange has been evacuated.
Office paper from the damaged buildings has been found drifting over
three miles away in Brooklyn
Last terrorism attack on Feb. 26, 1993, killing six people and injured
more
than 1,000 others.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=5941500&p=594y755&n=5941790&x=
Pittsburgh plane may have been shot down
11/09/2001
- 16:28:14
A
Boeing 767 has crashed near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
It is not known if this air crash is related to the three other jets
used in today’s spate of terrorist attacks on the US.
The plane came down just north of the Somerset county airport, about 80
miles south east of Pittsburgh.
US anti-aircraft fighters are in place - unconfirmed reports say this
plane was shot out of the sky by US defence.
It remains unclear whether this aircraft was the fourth to be hijacked in Boston
earlier today.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=2519532&p=z5y964x&n=2519719&x=
Conflicting reports over those responsible for plane crashes
11/09/2001
- 15:05:34
Abu
Dhabi television reported it had received a call from the
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
claiming
responsibility for crashing two planes into the WTC buildings.
But a DFLP spokesman denied it carried out the acts.
Terrorists
on suicide missions crashed two hijacked jet airliners into the 110
storey World Trade Centre in New York within minutes of each other
today, killing at least six people and injuring 1,000.
Then an
aircraft crashed into the Pentagon, the US Defence
Department’s HQ in
Washington, and the White House was evacuated after the Security
Service received a ‘‘credible
threat’’ against the president’s official
home.
‘The
plane was coming in low and it looked like it hit at a slight
angle,’’ said Sean Murtagh, a CNN vice president.
Both
planes, twin engined
small jet liners, remained embedded in one of the twin towers
with
smoke and flames pouring out of the gaping holes.
TV reported that at least six people were killed- CNBC television said
there were at least a thousand injured.
President
Bush was in Sarasota, Florida, reading to children in a classroom full
of children,
when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his
ear.
The president briefly turned sombre before he resumed reading.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=722393&p=7zz4z4&n=722457&x=
Bin
Laden warned three weeks ago of attacks
11/09/2001
- 17:49:11
Followers
of Saudi dissident Osama
bin Laden warned three weeks ago
that they would carry out a ‘‘huge
and unprecedented attack’’ on US
interests, a London-based Arab journalist said today.
Abdel-Bari
Atwan, editor of the Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, said he received a
warning from
Islamic fundamentalists close to bin Laden, but did not
take the threat seriously.
‘‘They said it would be a huge and unprecedented
attack but they did not specify,’’ Atwan said.
‘‘We
usually receive this kind of thing. At the time we did not take the
warnings seriously
as they had happened several times in the past and
nothing happened.
‘‘This time it seems his people were accurate and
meant every word they said.’’
Atwan,
who interviewed renegade Saudi millionaire bin Laden in 1996 and has
since maintained contacts with his followers,
said he believed the
attack on the World Trade Centre in New York was the work of
‘‘an
Islamic fundamentalist group’’ very close to bin
Laden.
The United States accuses
the Saudi dissident of operating a terrorist network from his bases in
Afghanistan
and of blowing up two US embassies in East Africa in 1998.
The Taliban, who have refused to hand him over, deny the charge.
Atwan
said he was surprised by the scale of the attack, but said it was
merely a continuation
of bin Laden’s Fatwa religious edict against
America. He said anti-American sentiment
was running high in the Middle
East because of perceived US support for Israel.
Tensions had
increased further after the United States and Israel pulled out of
the
racism conference in Durban, South Africa due to anti-Israel language
in the final declaration, he said.
‘‘People really are
frustrated that here is a super power siding with the
Israelis,’’ he
said.
‘‘They made the hatred more by pulling out of the
Durban
conference.’’
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=13122700&p=y3yz3z6z&n=13123332&x=
Hijack
passenger rang husband from plane
11/09/2001
- 22:05:04
One
of the passengers on the airplanes hijacked and crashed by
terrorists in the US today
phoned her husband to tell him her flight
had been hijacked.
Barbara
Olsen, wife of US Solicitor General Theodore Olsen, rang him on her
mobile phone
twice to say hijackers wielding knives had taken control
of the plane.
The hijackers, she said, forced passengers and crew to the back of the
plane.
Ms Olsen was on her way to meet her husband to celebrate his birthday
when the flight was hijacked.
She and all 266 passengers on board the four hijacked flights are
presumed dead.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=6174696&p=6y7496x&n=6174988&x=
Second attack plane took off at Newark
11/09/2001
- 16:33:45
It is reported that the second plane that hit the World Trade Centre
earlier today had taken off at Newark.
The first had been hijacked at Boston although it had been chartered
for Los Angeles.
Newark airport, New Jersey, is just a few miles from lower Manhattan
where the towers were situated.
A plane at full-speed would have reached the towers less than two
minutes after take-off.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=21907809&p=zy9x8748&n=21908814&x=
Large
airliner crashes into the Pentagon
11/09/2001
- 15:11:53
Paul Begala, a Democratic consultant, said he witnessed an explosion
near
the Pentagon.
"It was a huge fireball, a huge, orange fireball," Begala said in an
interview on his cell phone.
He said another witness told him a helicopter exploded.
AP reporter Dave Winslow also saw the crash. He said, "I saw
the tail of a large
airliner.
.... It plowed right into the Pentagon."
Another eyewitness has said that it was a low-flying commercial
airliner which crashed into the Pentagon.
An
eyewitness to the World Trade Centre crash has said that they saw the
first plane
twenty blocks away from the Centre and that it seemed to
veer towards the twin towers.
Other major government institutions, including Treasury and the State
Department, were also evacuated.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=5989128&p=5989385&n=5989394&x=
Palestinians
celebrate in the streets
Qais Abdel Rahim was reacting to reports that two
Arab satellite stations in
the Gulf had received anonymous claims of responsibility on behalf of
the
DFLP, a radical PLO faction. Abdel Rahim said his group condemned the
attacks.
more....
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=5694472&p=56947y6&n=5694814&x=
US closes border with Mexico
11/09/2001
- 17:02:40
The US border with Mexico has been sealed.
The US Federal Reserve reports it is prepared to provide additional
money to
nation's banking system as needed following terrorist attacks.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=8262360&p=8z6z7y4&n=8262755&x=