9/11 photos from World Trade Center, Pentagon, Shanksville around US

[ad_1]

Brooklyn firefighters George Johnson, left, of ladder 157, Dan McWilliams, center, of ladder 157, and Billy Eisengrein, right, of Rescue 2, raise a flag at the World Trade Center in New York, in this Sept. 11, 2001, file photo.

The country was forever changed on this day 21 years ago.

Terrorists hijacked and crashed passenger planes into buildings in New York and just outside of Washington, D.C. One hijacked plane dove into an empty field, its hijackers’ plans foiled by a group of courageous passengers.

Nearly 3,000 victims’ lives were claimed by extremist group al-Qaida’s 9/11 attacks. New York City lost more than 400 first responders who rushed to help at the burning World Trade Center. More than 83,000 first responders have enrolled in a Centers for Disease Control program that provides support for a number of medical conditions, like cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder, that arose from being at the site of the attacks.

From the archives:As 9/11 attacks unfolded, no one knew if hijackers were on board

Sept. 11, 2001, set the stage for a new “global war on terror” launched by former U.S. President George W. Bush. The United States military and its allies set out to eliminate al-Qaida terrorist network harbored by the Taliban in Afghanistan in a costly war that ended last year with the United States withdrawing its troops and the Taliban taking control of the county.