September 11 angrebene, en oversigt

The September 11 attacks also known as 9-11, were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C., area on September 11, 2001. On that Tuesday morning, 19 terrorists from the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger jets. The hijackers intentionally crashed two planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City; both towers collapsed within two hours. Hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon in Virginia. The fourth jet, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field near Shanksville, after passengers attempted to take control before it could reach the hijacker's intended target in Washington, D.C. Nearly 3,000 died in the attacks.

The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring the twin towers in Lower Manhattan. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new skyscrapers and a memorial to the casualties of the attacks. As of November 2011, only one skyscraper has been completed, with four more expected to be completed before 2020. One World Trade Center will be the lead building for the new complex and is expected to be finished by 2013. A sixth tower is still awaiting confirmation to be built. At the time of their completion, the original 1 and 2 World Trade Center were the tallest buildings in the world.