This Sunday [12 September New Zealand] is the anniversary
of the series of suicide attacks on the United States now dubbed
9/11. In 2001 four commercial passenger planes were hijacked;
two were flown into the World Trade Centre twin towers in New York,
one was crashed into the Pentagon just outside Washington D.C, and
the fourth crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural
Pennsylvania. Militant Islamist group Al Quaeda claimed
responsibility for the attacks which ended the lives of 2,996
people, including the 19 hijackers.
YouTube clip tribute to 11 September
attacks
In response to the attacks, the United States invaded
Afghanistan attempting to oust Wahhabi Islamist political
movement the Taliban and destroy Al Qaeda's base there.
More than 35 countries joined U.S. forces, with over 100,00
soldiers comprising the NATO - International Security Assistance
Force invasion.
So far over 2000 US and coalition soldiers have lost their lives
in Afghanistan. Nearly 8000 have been wounded.
Over 2000 Afghanistan civilians were killed in the first 10
months of 2009 and close to 7000 have died in the war since 2006,
according to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
(UNAMA).
Links to 11 September memorial sites
Pentagon Memorial Fund
Sept11thMemorial.com
A tribute to those affected by the disasters that struck America
Tuesday, September 11th, 2001
9/11 Memorial
terroristattack.com
List of names of people who lost their lives in the 11 September
2001 attacks in New York. Read or leave messages.
Compiled by Jen
de Montalk