On September 11th, 2001 (9/11), 19 suicide bombers linked with the Islamic extremist group al-Quaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two planes were flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. A third plane hit the Pentagon just outside of Washington, D.C and the fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
- On September 11, 2001, 2,996 people were killed in the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in NYC, the Pentagon building in Virginia, and in a plane crash in Pennsylvania.
- The attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11 resulted in the largest loss of life by a foreign attack on American soil.
- On any given workday, up to 50,000 employees worked in the WTC twin towers before 9/11.
- 18 people were rescued alive from the rubble of the WTC after 9/11.
- Along with 1.4 million tons of debris removed, 19,435 body parts were recovered from the WTC after 9/11.
- Al-Qaeda initially considered targeting nuclear power plants on 9/11 but decided against it, fearing things could "get out of control."
- The New York Times wrote an article about every single 9/11 victim.
- The World Trade Center's most famous survivor and president of its support group, Tania Head, was later found to be a fraud: she wasn't even in NYC on 9/11.
- After 9/11, the Maasai tribe of Kenya gave 14 of their most important cattle to America as aid.
- A month before 9/11, President George W. Bush was handed a memo titled: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US" saying it would be by hijacking planes, possibly targeting NYC.
- The 9/11 attacks also destroyed US$100 million in art including work from Pablo Picasso.
- In August 2001, actor James Woods reported 4 suspicious individuals on his flight. Authorities did not act on his claim and they later turned out to be the 9/11 hijackers.
- The CIA had a secret office on the 25th floor of 7 World Trade Center, another nearby building that collapsed after the 9/11 attacks.
- In 2002, the comptroller of the City of New York estimated the impact of 9/11 on the city's wealth to be US$30.5 billion.
- Two F16 pilots went on a suicide mission to stop Flight 93 on 9/11. In the end, the flight’s passengers took the plane down.
- In New York, 6.5 hectares of buildings were directly affected when the Twin Towers collapsed in 9/11.
- 9/11 was not the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. A bombing in February of 1993 killed six people.
- In 2006, Russia gifted the U.S. a 9/11 memorial monument, which was erected in Bayonne, NJ.
- An eerie prophecy attributed to Nostradamus regarding the 9/11 attacks was in fact fabricated by a college student in 1997 to show how easily such prophecies can be misused.
- The man who ordered the grounding of all aircraft in the U.S. on 9/11 was on his first day on the job.
- The company that owned the WTC had scheduled a meeting for 9/11/2001 on Tower 1 to discuss what to do in the event of a terrorist attack, but rescheduled the night before because someone couldn't attend.
- There's a 9/11 Memorial in Israel constructed of steel from the remains of the WTC.
- In 2002, a 15-year-old boy, inspired by 9/11, stole an airplane and flew it into a skyscraper in Tampa, Florida. He was the only death.
- On 9/11, four people in the South Tower of the WTC managed to escape from a floor above the plane's impact.
- More than 1,100 people have been diagnosed with cancer as a result of "exposure to toxins at Ground Zero" from 9/11.
- The largest sea evacuation in the U.S. happened on 9/11. Almost 500,000 people got evacuated by boat in less than 9 hours.
- Jackie Chan was scheduled to be on top of the
- WTC on the morning of 9/11 for a movie, but the screenwriter failed to deliver the script on time.
- When flights got diverted or grounded during 9/11, Canada housed, fed, and sheltered over 33,000 passengers.
- Only 1600 victims were identified of the 2749 present when the Twin Towers collapsed on 9/11.
- Microsoft was about to use "Prepare to Fly" as a slogan for Windows XP launch but dropped it because of 9/11.
- There was only one plane allowed to take off after flights were grounded on September 11, 2001. It was a plane carrying antivenin to a man bitten by a highly venomous snake.
- It's estimated that 1,000 additional deaths occurred in the months following 9/11 because Americans chose to travel by car instead of by plane.
- For those who jumped from the WTC on 9/11, the fall lasted 10 seconds. They struck the ground at just under 150 mph, enough to ensure instant death on impact.
- The deaths of those who jumped from the WTC on 9/11 were ruled homicide, not suicide.
- An estimated 410,000 people were exposed to asbestos, a toxic substance, at WTC in 9/11.
- Nearly 70% of rescuers have lung problems.
- NASA recovered metal from the WTC and used it on Martian rovers as a tribute to those fallen on the 9/11 attacks.
- The last survivor removed from the WTC collapse debris in 9/11 was found in the ruins of the North Tower 27 hours after its collapse.