Coordinated Terrorist Attacks in New York and Washington DC:

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three hijacked planes crashed into U.S. landmarks on Tuesday, destroying New York's mighty twin towers and plunging the Pentagon in Washington into flames in an unprecedented assault on key symbols of U.S. military and financial power. Loss of life was expected to be catastrophic from the collapse of the giant towers of the World Trade Center where some 50,000 people work. The two 110-story towers collapsed one at a time in a huge cloud of smoke and fire two hours after the initial impacts.

Terror Timeline:
• 8:42 a.m. ET First plane slams into the north tower of the World Trade Center
• 9:00 a.m.ET Approximately 18 minutes later, a second plane slams into the south tower of the World Trade Center.
• The planes are later identified as American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 with 81 passengers, nine flight attendants and two pilots, hijacked after takeoff from Boston en route to Los Angeles, and American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 en route from Dulles Airport near Washington, carrying 58 passengers, four flight attendants and two pilots.
• 9:24 a.m. ET Bush calls today’s plane crashes at the World Trade Center "an apparent terrorist attack on our country."
• 9:32 a.m. ET Stock Exchange closed.
• 9:35 a.m. ET An aircraft crashes on a helicopter landing pad near the Pentagon. A portion of one side of the five-sided structure collapses
• 9:50 a.m.ET The first tower, One World Trade Center, collapses in a plume of ash and debris.
• 10:00 a.m. ET United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco with 38 passengers and seven crew members, crashes just north of the Somerset County Airport, about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The plane was carrying 38 passengers, two pilots and five flight attendants. Shortly before impact, a passenger called on his cell phone from a locked bathroom: "We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!" There are rumors that the plane was headed to either the White House or the Capitol.
• 10:05 a.m.ET The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses in a plume of ash and debris.
• 10:24 a.m.ET The FAA reports that all inbound transatlantic flights are to be diverted to Canada.
• 10:28 a.m.ET Two World Trade Center, the north tower, collapses.
• 12:15 p.m. E.T. The United States closes its border with Canada and Mexico.
• 5:25 p.m. ET Seven World Trade Center, a 47-story tower, collapses from ancillary damage from this morning's attack.

Pictures of crash scene from World Trade Center and Pentagon

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