The September 11th attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks, launched by the extremist group al-Qaeda, that targeted the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon, as well as another site in Washington, D.C. Between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. on the morning of the attacks, four commercial passenger planes were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda operatives with the intent to crash the planes into buildings. American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were flown into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center Complex; American Airlines Flight 77 was flown into the Pentagon, while the 4th hijacked plane, United Flight 93, crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after the passengers heroically rose up against the hijackers. In the end, nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in the attacks, including 343 firefighters and 72 law enforcement officers.
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