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New York highlighted Monday the 25the anniversary of the first World Trade Center attack in 1993.
People gathered at “Ground Zero” observed a minute of silence in memory of the six people, including a pregnant woman, who were killed when a truck bomb exploded in the underground parking lot of the Twin Towers at 12:18 pm.
The names of the six victims were recited. A mass and a ceremony on the place commemorating the attacks of September 11, 2001 were also on the program.
The president of the 9/11 Museum, Alice Greenwald, pointed out that the 1993 attack, although it was later overshadowed by the events of September 11, 2001, represented a pivotal moment in New York’s history.
World Trade Center site manager Kevin O’Toole apologized saying authorities had not been ready to respond to the events of 1993.
The bomb was the work of Islamists who wanted to avenge US policies in the Middle East, according to federal prosecutors. Six suspects have been convicted and are now in prison, including the alleged cell leader Ramzi Yousef – the nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who claims to have orchestrated the 9/11 attacks.
A seventh suspect is still running.
Some 50,000 people fled the smoky towers; some victims descended stairs in the dark, others had to be rescued in elevators or picked up on the roof by police helicopters. A thousand people were injured.
The names of the six victims are listed alongside those of some 3,000 victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
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