NEWS & UPDATE
Another passenger plane crashed into the Pentagon outside Washington, leaving a gaping gash in the nation's hub of military power, killing all on board the aircraft and more on the ground. Within the hour, a fourth airliner went down near Pittsburgh, killing everyone aboard. There were no immediate details available on casualties, but thousands of people work in the affected buildings � 50,000 in the World Trade Center alone. Hundreds of people were in local hospitals. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said hundreds of firefighters were feared dead and the death count could "go into the thousands." Giuliani also said he believed some victims were still alive underneath the rubble but firefighters were unable to reach them because of the smoke, the heat of the rubble and the amount of debris. With a black smoke billowing over the area where the World Trade Center towers once stood, city officials also said the dead were buried under several feet of soot and debris and that machines would be need to lift some of the rubble to help firefighters with the body recovery. "It's tough. � we should hug one another and give thanks that we're all here," Giuliani said. "Tomorrow is another day. New York is still here, and we will rebuild and be stronger than ever." There were reports that officials at Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had stopped a van at the George Washington Bridge that may have contained explosives, but Port Authority and Fort Lee, N.J., police said those claims were untrue. No Longer Security as Usual Meanwhile at the Pentagon, the smell of smoke, jet fuel and gas was still rising as some of the dead lay outside the damaged building. The entire area was deserted of civilian and military employees, but dozens of emergency personnel were stationed outside the building doing triage on the wounded and searching for bodies still underneath the debris. As Pentagon officials identified the dead, they began contacting next of kin. The chief of the Arlington, Va., Fire Department estimated that were between 100 and 800 people dead at Pentagon. Washington, D.C., Police Chief Charles Ramsey said security in the area would be no longer "business as usual" and that officials were still assessing whether roads will continue to be closed Wednesday. Ramsey's department also recommended that next month's meeting between the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington be canceled or postponed. In an address to the nation tonight, President Bush vowed that the terrorists would be brought to justice. "The functions of our government will continue without interruption," Bush said from the White House. "Our financial institutions remain strong. The American economy will be open for business as well. We have a full resolution to find those responsible for this evil act and bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them." President Bush was meeting with his National Security Council staff tonight and was expected to remain at White House until Wednesday morning. FBI Investigation Under Way Attorney General John Ashcroft said thousands of FBI agents from around the country are being assigned to investigate the attacks and will be focusing on New York, Washington, Pittsburgh, Boston and Newark, N.J. Ashcroft also pledged that those responsible would be brought to justice. "The determination of the terrorists will not deter the determination of the American people," said Ashcroft. "We will find the people responsible for this terrible act and justice will be done." According to the FBI, the planes involved in the World Trade Center crashes were American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 en route from Boston to Los Angeles carrying 81 passengers, nine flight attendants and two pilots, and United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767 also headed from Boston to Los Angeles. Officials said the plane was carrying 56 passengers, two pilots and seven flight attendants. FBI officials have begun interviewing airline officials at Dulles and Boston's Logan airports in an attempt to get a sense of who was on the airplanes. The FBI has also set up a Web site at www.fccfbi.gov for those who have any information about the terrorist attacks. Tonight, the FBI issued several search warrants on people who live within the United States based on preliminary information on how two of the planes were hijacked. They said a flight attendant called authorities from the airborne American Airlines Flight 11, reporting that two flight attendants had been stabbed and that intruders had broken into the cockpit. The Christian Science Monitor reported that air traffic controllers could hear the hijackers of Flight 11 instructing the pilots in English. On the United flight that crashed outside Pittsburgh, a passenger called authorities from the plane on his cell phone, saying the plane had been hijacked. A senior FBI official also told ABCNEWS that investigators have received reports that other passengers were able to use their cell phones to call 911 or relatives and describe horrific scenes in which terrorists were slashing people's throats. In an Instant, Skyline Changes The chaos began at about 8:50 a.m. ET when a hijacked American Airlines passenger plane smashed into the 110-story One World Trade Center, the northern tower. Then, at about 9 a.m., another jet crashed into the southern tower, Two World Trade Center. At about 10 a.m., the southern tower collapsed, enveloping lower Manhattan in a cloud of dust, ash and debris. A half-hour later, the northern tower also fell in on itself and the New York City skyline was indelibly changed. "Lots of smoke and then the next thing I heard was an explosion in the building from the top, the south building just crumbled, just completely went down, I saw it," said witness Joan Fleischer. "It's hard to see all the pieces, but you could see it tipping over and just crashing to the ground." Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center. (ABCNEWS.com/ Magellan Geographix) Shortly after the crashes at the World Trade Center, at about 9:40 a.m., FBI officials say American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 en route from Washington Dulles Airport to Los Angeles crashed into the Pentagon. The plane was carrying 58 passengers, four flight attendants and two pilots. Then, at about 10:40 a.m., reports came that United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757, en route from Newark to San Francisco, crashed in western Pennsylvania, about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The plane was carrying 38 passengers, two pilots and five flight attendants. In New York, the damage continued into late afternoon, as a third building in the World Trade Center complex, Building 7, collapsed in a plume of flames at about 5:20 p.m. Authorities had been moving people out of the area prior to the collapse, as a fire in the lower part of the 47-floor building had made it unstable. In the wake of the attacks, the U.S. Capitol, White House and other federal buildings were evacuated in Washington. In New York, U.N. headquarters was also evacuated, as were skyscrapers and federal buildings in several other cities. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered all airports around the country closed in the first such nationwide shutdown. The flight ban was not expected to be lifted until at least Wednesday at noon ET. When the initial attacks occurred, the president was visiting an elementary school in Florida, but left after getting word of the disaster. He landed in Louisiana shortly before noon, then left on Air Force One for Nebraska and only headed back to Washington in the late afternoon after security officials deemed it safe for him to return, said ABCNEWS correspondent Ann Compton, who was with the president. Evacuations Occur Nationwide As the morning went on, and the horror of the initial crash grew with each new disaster, officials in Washington and New York moved to try to limit any further loss of life. Police in Washington closed off a two-block perimeter around the White House and agents with automatic weapons and machine guns moved tourists out of the area, locking down entire buildings around the area. Cell phones may have been deliberately turned off by servers because of fear the phones could be used to detonate a bomb. In New York, Mayor Giuliani ordered that lower Manhattan be evacuated, asking everyone below Canal Street to walk north out of the area. The city's subway system was also shut down for hours. An evacuation was ordered at the Sears Tower in Chicago, Los Angeles mobilized its anti-terrorism division, the Space Needle in Seattle was closed, and security was intensified around the naval facilities in Hampton Roads, Va. The financial markets in New York were closed through Wednesday, at least. After the attacks, all military bases were put on Threatcon Delta, the highest level of alert. The FAA shut down all air traffic in the country at 9:25 a.m. ET, ordering any planes in the air to land at the nearest airport. Trans-Atlantic flights were rerouted. A plane crashed into the Pentagon. (ABCNEWS.com/ Magellan Geographix) In response to today's attacks, the U.S. Atlantic Fleet based in Norfolk, Va., sent ships to sea to contribute to the "air defense" of Washington and New York. Other ships were directed to get under way to provide humanitarian and medical support. Law enforcement officials at the highest levels were stunned at the level and sophistication of the attacks, officials said, and have launched a massive probe. Although it is still too early to know the source of the attacks, the earliest theories focused on America's most-wanted fugitive. Bin Laden 'High on List of Suspects' U.S. officials familiar with terrorist activity say there is some information that points in the direction of Osama bin Laden, who tops the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list with a $5 million price on his head. He and his organization are high on the list of suspects, officials say. The attacks were too complex and well-coordinated for most terrorist groups to carry off, they said. There was no indication that there was any state sponsorship of today's attacks, the officials said. Bin Laden warned three weeks ago that his followers would carry out an "unprecedented attack" on the United States, an Arab journalist told Reuters news agency. Along with several other world leaders, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat condemned the aircraft attacks. Arafat spoke shortly after an anonymous caller told Abu Dhabi television that a radical Palestinian group was responsible for the attacks. The group later denied any involvement. "I send my condolences, the condolences of the Palestinian people to American President Bush and his government and to the American people for this terrible act," Arafat told reporters in Gaza. "We completely condemn this serious operation � We were completely shocked. It's unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable." Standing Together House and Senate leaders stood side by side in a show of unity this evening and vowed to stand together behind the nation and Bush. They said that the acts of terror would not stop Congress from convening Wednesday. In Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, early Wednesday morning but this evening in Washington, video from a Middle Eastern news agency showed flames, explosions and tracer fire. Bin Laden, considered to be one of the world's most dangerous terrorists, is said to be based in Afghanistan. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the attacks in Kabul were not ordered by the United States. Pentagon spokesman Craig Quigley said: "It isn't us. I don't know who's doing it." 'I Don't Believe This' In lower Manhattan, as police, fire and emergency personnel tried to cope with the mayhem, witnesses were in shock. "I'm sitting down and I'm crying and I couldn't believe that something like this could actually happen," said Tony Bristow, who was working on a nearby pier when the planes smashed in the towers. "Then about 10 minutes later the whole building just started to collapse and now two seconds ago both of them collapsed and now there's no more World Trade Center. It's � this is ridiculous. I don't believe this." The tops of the twin towers were obscured by the smoke, and thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper came drifting over Brooklyn, about 3 miles from the tower. Before they collapsed, large holes were visible in sides of the landmark twin towers, which were struck by terrorist bombers in February 1993, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 in attack that at that time shook America. ABCNEWS' Geraldine Sealey, Dean Schabner, Michael McAuliff, Bryan Robinson, Pierre Thomas, Barbara Starr and Corey Goldman contributed to this report.
World > Asia: South & Central from the March 18, 2002 edition World > Asia: South & Central from the March 18, 2002 edition Al Qaeda plotted new US attacks Villagers say they heard Osama bin Laden's voice last month, and saw his No. 2, Ayman al Zawahiri, in caves. By Ilene R. Prusher | Staff Writer of The Christian Science Monitor SHAH-I-KOT, AFGHANISTAN � Key Al Qaeda officials, possibly including Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No. 2 to Osama bin Laden, were present in the fortified Shah-i-Kot caves of this region just before the recent US attacks. Local villagers, who spoke on the condition that their village not be identified, provided details on how they were recruited to blast a new network of caves for these fighters � who were formulating plans for additional terrorist attacks on the US � and to provide an escape route for later use. E-mail this story Write a letter to the Editor Printer-friendly version Related stories: 03/15/02 Escaped Taliban may fight again 03/04/02 How bin Laden got away 02/11/02 Afghans to US: 'Work with us' 02/08/02 Locals cash in on Al Qaeda, Taliban 02/05/02 Lying low in 'Taliban country' monitortalk: From Afghanistan to Washington to your home, discuss all aspects of the war on terrorism. If the workers and mullah are to be believed, the Al Qaeda base that was attacked but not destroyed by Operation Anaconda included computers, satellite phones, maps of major American cities, and pictures of huge US bridges that the men said they could not name. The tales that Al Qaeda's temporary labor force tell are unsettling on many levels. They suggest that some US intelligence sources have been double-dealing them. They suggest that the local population � who will be crucial in any campaign to route out Al Qaeda from this harsh and formidable mountain range � is feeling torn between the US and their Muslim brothers who are calling them to join in a jihad against the dominance of infidels. As the US continues its mopping up efforts in the aftermath of Operation Anaconda, understanding exactly who these villagers were helping is perhaps just one of the many threads officials will begin to unravel. "It started almost two months ago, and I am happy because I made a lot of money from them," says Jalad Khan, a driver who could only hope to make the 70,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,100) that Al Qaeda paid him in two to three years. "They gave us food and goat meat, and we were laughing every day. We were having a very good time � it was like a picnic." That picnic ended hastily, four different men interviewed in one village say, when word spread that the US would begin bombing the next day. A few of the some 100 workers helping the Al Qaeda fighters were also "working" with US forces. So they were able to give the mostly Arab and Chechen fighters a day's notice that Operation Anaconda was about to begin. That information enabled the fighters to send the families traveling with them to a safer place, and spurred the comfortable departure of some of the more senior Al Qaeda figures, who also sent their extraordinarily well-paid workers home. Several of the men interviewed say that the fighters were extremely deferential to the apparent leader on site, a portly, bespectacled man who was referred to as either the "sheikh" or the "doctor." A local mullah here, who served as a foreman for several of the villagers he helped recruit, says he the leader was probably Mr. Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor who is Mr. bin Laden's right-hand man, because his face matches the picture on flyers that were dropped over this area by American planes a while back. The men also say that they overheard a live address � via satellite phone � to all the Al Qaeda troops by a man they referred to as "al Qaed," or the leader. The workers believe it was bin Laden, but cannot be sure. The phone connection was cut off. Afterward, the fighters seemed buoyed by the pep talk, which would have been given three weeks to one month ago. "When we were there, they were joking with us, saying: 'We will strike the Pentagon from these mountains," says Ahmad Wazir, an unemployed father in grime-blasted clothes. He followed that with: "I don't even know what the Pentagon is, if it is a tree, or a village, or a leader." The apparent ease with which the Al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives built themselves a comfortable new network of hideouts � embedded in rocky mountainsides that will be much more difficult to destroy than the caves of Tora Bora � raises questions about the effectiveness of allied intelligence in a war that many Afghans say the US is far from winning. "I knew who they were. I don't have the power to expel them from the area," says Wazir, so he figured he may as well profit from them. In his mind, he figured, Afghanistan had suffered greatly, in part because of the embargoes slapped on the country under the Taliban and Al Qaeda � and now it was payback time. The fighters were in a rush, knowing that the US might be coming for them. "They told us: 'You need to finish the work of one month in a week, and the work of one week in an hour.' They said, 'Swear by the Koran not to tell our secrets. We are being chased by the enemies of Islam,' " Wazir recalls. Mr. Khan, the driver and laborer, says his waist still aches from the work. The Afghan laborers were tied together to prevent them from falling down the mountainsides. They did some of the work with jackhammers, and then put dynamite down the holes they cut. But a great deal of the work had to be done by hand, he says, rounding out the tunnels with shovels and pick-axes. "We knew they were Al Qaeda, but the problem is that if I did not do the work, they would just bring in people from other areas," says Khan. He says he was told that they were digging for minerals, not building bunkers. People in the village had mixed feelings about Al Qaeda, and still do. Many villagers were softened by the fact that the fighters presented themselves as warm and generous Muslims, and the fugitives were traveling with women and children. The laborers say they can't be sure the US has Afghanistan's best interests in mind. They say they have no proof that bin Laden and his cadre ever did anything to hurt America, but they do know that US airstrikes hit 60 of their tribal elders in December, as they traveled to Kabul for the inauguration of the interim government. But the men grew equally suspicious of Al Qaeda men's claim to be good Muslims as they kept talking about killing Americans. Rafar Khan, a young mullah who was the chief foreman for the tunnel-building operation, says that he felt compelled to help the men, for both economic and religious reasons. "This is the duty of every Muslim, to help the holy warriors. The Americans call them Al Qaeda, but we just call them mujahideen, and they've made sacrifices for this country," says Khan, who wears a beard that looks like a sculpted shrub. But Khan says he began to have second thoughts about what he had done when, while working, news came on the radio of a large bombing in the Palestinian territories that killed a lot of people. "They were very happy to hear that, and they were jumping up and down and celebrating," he says, "So then I realized that they were not just religious people, but they are also terrorists," he says. "Now I am very sorry that I was supporting them."
