16 years ago, the largest terrorist attack in history was carried out on the USA

Today marks the 16th anniversary of the largest terrorist attack on the United States of America ever, writes the BH News Agency Patria.

Nineteen Al-Qaeda operatives, a network of militant Islamist organizations, hijacked four American airplanes. Two struck the World Trade Center in New York, after which both were very quickly demolished. The third plane hit the Pentagon, the main headquarters of the US Department of Defense in Washington. The fourth plane crashed in a rural part of Pennsylvania 130 km east of Pittsburgh after passengers resisted the hijackers.

The attack on September 11, 2001, is an event that marked the 21st century, in terms of the general economic, social, cultural, and military consequences that followed in the United States and many other parts of the world.

At least 2,985 people died. Shortly after the attacks, the US government announced that Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden were the main suspects for the attacks. Ten years later, Bin Laden was liquidated in an operation by US forces in Pakistan. In the period since Al-Qaeda's attacks on New York and Washington, more than 35,000 people worldwide have been convicted of terrorism.