Defining images of the 9/11 attacks

Marking 20th anniversary of deadliest terror atrocity on US soil

Smoke pours from the twin towers of the World Trade Center
Robert Giroux/Getty Images
(Image credit: Smoke pours from the twin towers of the World Trade Center)
By
published

Twenty years ago today, the US was changed forever by a terror attack that struck at the heart of the nation’s most populous city.

Here are some of the defining images of that day.

(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A blasts rocks the South Tower of the World Trade Center as it is hit by the second hijacked plane

(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Stunned and fearful New Yorkers watch as the second plane hits the World Trade Center

(Image credit: Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images)

A man falls from the World Trade Center after jumping to escape the burning building

(Image credit: Getty Images)

People flee from the burning towers of the World Trade Center over Brooklyn Bridge

(Image credit: Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images)

The North Tower, which was the first to be hit, collapses after the South Tower, 102 minutes after the fateful impact

(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

People try to shelter from the all-enveloping dust cloud after the collapse of both towers

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

At 9.37am, 51 minutes after the North Tower was hit, a third plane crashes into the Pentagon building in Washington

(Image credit: Eric Draper/The White House/Getty Images)

George W. Bush speaks to Vice President Dick Cheney from on board Air Force One en route back to Washington from Florida on 11 September 2001

(Image credit: US Navy/Getty Images)

A security camera at Portland airport in Maine captures two hijackers, Mohammed Atta and Abdulaziz Al-Omari, on the morning of 9/11

(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The rebuilt One World Trade Center, which opened in 2014, towers over Manhattan

Explore More
The Week Staff
Latest