World Trade Center\u2019s twin towers were destroyed in coordinated attacks on Sept 11, 2001
\n New York
\nNew York prepared to mark the devastating attacks of September 11, 2001 on Thursday, 24 years after the deadly plane hijackings that claimed almost 3,000 lives and forever changed the United States.
\nVice President JD Vance was expected to attend memorial events at Ground Zero in Manhattan where the World Trade Center\u2019s twin towers were destroyed in coordinated attacks that also saw a jetliner crashed into the nerve center of American military power, the Pentagon in Washington.
\nAnother jet, Flight 93, crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside when passengers overran the hijacker and took control of the aircraft.
\nThis year\u2019s gathering takes place against a backdrop of sharp political division both in the city and nationally.
\nNew York is in the grip of an unprecedented mayoral election campaign in which socialist Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing off against former governor Andrew Cuomo and sitting mayor Eric Adams.
\nNew Yorkers go to the polls on November 4.
\nIt was unclear which of the mayoral candidates would attend the ceremony that is always attended by the sitting mayor as well as community leaders.
\nPresident Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked Mamdani, a Muslim and naturalised US citizen, calling him a \u201ccommunist lunatic,\u201d while one Republican lawmaker has called for the race\u2019s frontrunner to be deported.
\nMamdani holds a 22 point lead in the race, according to the latest polling from The New York Times and Siena.
\n\u201cIt was this horrific day that was also for many New Yorkers the moment at which they were marked an \u2018other\u2019,\u201d Mamdani told The Times, describing the surge in Islamophobic attacks that followed 9\/11.
\nIt was unclear if Trump would attend New York\u2019s commemorative events as he has in years past.
\nThe United States has faced a rash of political violence in recent months, with the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk following the targeted killing of a Democratic Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and the firebombing of a Democratic governor\u2019s residence.
\nNew York will mark a citywide moment of silence at 8:46am (1246 GMT), the time that hijacked Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Centre.
\nPlaces of worship across the city will sound their bells to mark the impact as families of the victims read the names of those killed at ground zero.
\nThe official death toll was 2,977 including the passengers and crew of the four hijacked planes, victims in the twin towers, firefighters, and personnel at the Pentagon. The death toll excludes the 19 Al-Qaeda hijackers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
World Trade Center\u2019s twin towers were destroyed in coordinated attacks on Sept 11, 2001 New York New York prepared to mark the devastating attacks of September 11, 2001 on Thursday, 24 years after the deadly plane hijackings that claimed almost 3,000 lives and forever changed the United States. Vice President JD Vance was expected to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-502324","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n