On the morning of September 11 , 2001 , four airliners were hijacked by 19 members of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda . The first hijacked airliner , American Airlines Flight 11 , struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 A.M. ( EST ) in New York City ; with a second , United Airlines Flight 175 , striking the South Tower less than twenty minutes later at 9:03 A.M. ( EST ) , resulting in the collapse of both 110 story skyscrapers , and the destruction of the World Trade Center . The third hijacked plane , American Airlines Flight 77 , was crashed into the Pentagon ( the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense ) in Arlington County , Virginia , demolishing a section of the outer southwest facing wall . After discovering that their plane , United Airlines Flight 93 , was going to be used as a missile , passengers attempted to regain control of the plane which had been redirected towards Washington , D.C. However , after regaining control from the hijackers , the plane crashed near a rural community near Shanksville , Pennsylvania . In total , the attacks killed 2,996 people — 2,507 civilians , 343 firefighters , 72 law enforcement officers , 55 military personnel , and the 19 terrorists . The 9/11 attack was the single deadliest international terrorist incident and the most devastating foreign attack on American soil since the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 , 1941 . It refocused American attention to a long war on terrorism , beginning with an attack on al-Qaeda and its Taliban supporters in Afghanistan
American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11
History of the United States (1991–2008)