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1993 World Trade Center bombing

1993 World Trade Center bombing
Part of terrorism in the United States
Underground damage after the bombing
LocationWorld Trade Center
New York City, New York, U.S.
Coordinates40°42′41″N 74°00′43″W / 40.711452°N 74.011919°W / 40.711452; -74.011919
DateFebruary 26, 1993 (1993-02-26)
12:18 p.m. (UTC−05:00)
TargetWorld Trade Center
Attack type
Van bombing
Deaths6
Injured1,042
PerpetratorsRamzi Yousef, Eyad Ismoil, and co-conspirators
MotiveBacklash against American foreign policy and U.S. support for Israel

The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack carried out on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. The 1,336 lb (606 kg) urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device[1] was intended to send the North Tower crashing into its twin, the South Tower, taking down both skyscrapers and killing tens of thousands of people. While it failed to do so, it killed six people, including a pregnant woman,[2] and caused over a thousand injuries.[3] About 50,000 people were evacuated from the buildings that day.[4][5]

The attack was planned by a group of terrorists including Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, Mohammad A. Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Abdul Rahman Yasin, and Ahmed Ajaj. In March 1994, four men were convicted of carrying out the bombing: Abouhalima, Ajaj, Ayyad, and Salameh. The charges included conspiracy, explosive destruction of property, and interstate transportation of explosives. In November 1997, two more were convicted: Ramzi Yousef, the organizer behind the bombings, and Eyad Ismoil, who drove the van carrying the bomb.[6]

Emad Salem, an FBI informant and a key witness in the trial of Ramzi Yousef, Abdul Hakim Murad, and Wali Khan Amin Shah, stated that the bomb itself was built under supervision from the FBI.[7] During his time as an FBI informant, Salem recorded hours of telephone conversations with his FBI handlers. In tapes made after the bombing, Salem alleged that an unnamed FBI supervisor declined to move forward on a plan that would have used a "phony powder" to fool the conspirators into believing that they were working with genuine explosives.[8]

  1. ^ Whitlock, Craig (July 5, 2005). "Homemade, Cheap and dangerous – Terror Cells Favor from Simple Ingredients In Building Bombs". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved September 9, 2009.
  2. ^ "February 26, 1993 Commemoration". Each year on February 26, victims' families, survivors, downtown residents, and city and state officials gather at the 9/11 Memorial to mark the anniversary of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing with a moment of silence, the tolling of a bell, and a reading of the names of the six victims of the first terror attack at the site.
  3. ^ "FBI 100 First Strike: Global Terror in America". FBI.gov. Archived from the original on September 3, 2011. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
  4. ^ Childers, J. Gilmore; Henry J. DePippo (February 24, 1998). "Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings: Foreign Terrorists in America: Five Years After the World Trade Center". US Senate Judiciary Committee. Archived from the original on December 27, 2007. Retrieved January 8, 2008.
  5. ^ Wright, Lawrence, Looming Tower, Knopf, (2006) p. 178.
  6. ^ 1993 World Trade Center Bombing
  7. ^ "Informant says he built World Trade Center bomb".
  8. ^ "Tapes Depict Proposal to Thwart Bomb Used in Trade Center Blast," Ralph Blumenthal, The New York Times, October 28, 1993, Section A; Page 1; Column 4