HIJACKING AND MOST FURIOUS TERRORIST ATTACK
It was Tuesday September 11, 2001 three jet planes took off from Boston for Los Angeles and some other air ports. All the three were hijacked by suicide squads – the followers of Osama Bin Laden. After some time their transponders were disconnected. The hijackers were commercial pilots themselves. They used simple weapons like plastic knives to take control of the aircrafts, according to reports based on cell phone calls made by some passengers on the ill fated aircrafts to their loved ones.
At 9 a.m. the two planes crashed into the World Trade Centre and both the 110 storey towers collapsed. People saw bodies falling from the high towers and people jumping act. One plane went to Washington within an hour it crashed at the Pentagon. Officials evaluated the White House, official residence of the USA President. Other major government buildings were also evacuated. The planes that slammed into the Trade Centre blasted fiery gaping holes in the upper horrors of the twin towers. The “southern tower collapsed with a roar about an hour later. The two towers were a part of Manhattan (Commercial complex of New York). Naturally all bridges and tunnels into Manhattan were closed down. Several suleway lines were immediately shut down. Trading on the Wall Street was also suspended.
About 50,000 persons used to work in the 110 storey towers out of which an estimated 10 to 15 percent were Indians. Their fate was not known. In all near about 7,000 people were killed.
American secretary of state Colin Powell said that it was the work of Islamic militants. Five Arab men, a trained pilot among them were identified as suspects. Osama Bin Laden was the prime suspect who had congratulated the terrorist who had carried out the attack. Actually he was behind the serial suicide attacks. He is the most ferocious enemy of USA since the Gulf war in 1990. In 1991 he left for Sudan and started terrorist training camps. In 1992 he carried out attacks on US soldiers in Somalia. In 1993 he was behind the first bomb attack on World Trade Centre in which six died and 1000 were injured. In 1995 he arranged a plot to kill Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia that failed. In 1996 under pressure from USA Sudan asked Laden to leave. He took refuge in Afghanistan. He backed another bombing in Saudi Arabia in 1996 that shattered an apartment complex housing US servicemen killing 19 persons. In 1996 again he is believed to have planned the US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in which 224 people including 12 Americans were killed. US officials believe that the attack US cole in Yemen that killed 17 US soldiers was arranged by Laden. US confirm that Bin Laden and his al-Quada group are the leading suspects in attack on the WTC and Washington. Powell said, “You don’t attack America like this and get away with it… It’s a war against civilization; it’s a war against all nations that believes in democracy”. He indicated that the US would rely on a coalition of democracies across the world to punish the terrorists and their sponsors. Washington lined up firepower to target terrorist camps and hideouts in the bogs and badlands around Afghanistan and Pakistan.
US Intelligence had firm belief that individuals associated with Osama Bin Laden and the al Qaeda network was involved. They thought “this is more like a military attack than a simple act of terrorism”. It probably was accomplished with the complicity of state terrorism” Bin Laden was hiding in Afghanistan, sheltered by the ruling Taliban militia which controlled more than 90 percent of that country. Many experts were of the opinion that Bin Laden could have received support from the Taliban or from a West Asian state, such as Iran or Iraq or even Libya which is hostile to the United State. Larry Johnson, former deputy director of counterterrorism at the State Department said, “You don’t have any other group in the world that’s carried out coordinated strikes against the US targets.
According to Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Bin Laden’s terrorist army was estimated to be a 35,000-strong force. They had noted a rise in his activities in the Central Asian region. A spokesman of CIS said, “It is a misconception that Bin Laden’s only enemy is the US. He has raised his personal ‘army’ also for incursion and terrorist activities to destabilize Russia and the CIS nations. Its men as per our information are also operating in Jammu and Kashmir, targeting Indian security forces.” The Kazakhstan army recently conducted an exercise to ‘liberate villages occupied by Islamic militants, Major camps of international located in the Taliban held areas of Afghanistan along the borders with the CIS countries. These camps receive generous aid from Arab billionaire Bin Laden. Because of these activities Russia became very cautious and supported US.
There were around 14 Chinese companies based in the twin towers. Still there were no signs of the terrible events of 11th September. Only security outside US. Diplomatic buildings were leafed up. Some people in Beijing argued that “the US was reaping the returns of its own foreign policies”.
India offered all operational help to the United States if Washington mounted a strike against the ground zero of terrorism as the area between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Great Britain is the most important ally of US. Blair, the Prime Minister of Great Britain sent its forces to Afghanistan to assist US forces to liquidate Taliban regime and to arrest Osama Bin Laden. Since then as all know the Taliban regime has been liquidated and Afghanistan is under the control of Karzai and King Daud Khan returned to the country from Italy after 29 years of exile. Pakistan was rather forced to the deployment of American troops in Pakistan. Osama Bin Laden is supposed to be hiding somewhere in Pakistan as all of its hiding places in Afghanistan have been destroyed. The European Community has also shown solidarity with the US as terrorism can reach any corner of the world. At present it is Islamic terrorism which is considered a danger to the democratic set ups in the whole world.