By: BHS Features Staff
February 26, 2025
On February 26, 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed. Today marks the 32nd anniversary of this attack.
A terrorist bomb was planted in the basement-level parking garage of the World Trade Center, and it exploded at 12:18 in the afternoon. This explosion caused mass destruction of the building, including a multi-story crater and seven collapsed floors.
The terrorists may have failed to critically damage the structure of the buildings; however, six people were killed and over a thousand were injured. The World Trade Center suffered 500 million dollars worth of damage. After the attack, 50,000 people had to be evacuated from the building, most of them suffering from smoke inhalation.
A multi-day manhunt began, looking for the suspects responsible. Within days, several of the terrorists were arrested. In March of 1994, Mohammed Salameh, Ahmad Ajaj, Nidal Ayyad, and Mahmoud Abouhalima were convicted for their roles in the bombing, and all were sentenced to life in prison. A Palestinian named Salameh was arrested when he went to receive the deposit that he made on the van used in the bombing. Ajaj and Ayyad were arrested for the construction of the bomb, and Abouhalima was arrested in Egypt after he fled from Saudi Arabia as it was discovered that he helped purchase and mix the explosives used in the attack.
The FBI investigated the bombing almost instantly after the attack. The FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force were tracking down the Islamic fundamentalists for months, and they knew that this was an act of terrorism. Within only one day of the attack, the FBI searched through the wreckage and found multiple parts of a damaged vehicle that completely exploded. They then found a great amount of clues about the terrorists responsible. One of the clues was a vehicle information number, which was traced back to the van that had been stolen the day before the attack.
The bombing of the World Trade Center caused a new Islamic terrorism phenomenon that directly impacted the United States. The leader of this attack, Ramzi Yousef, told the FBI that he planned to have the two towers crash into each other, which would kill roughly 250,000 people.
Yousef remained on the run until February of 1995. He was arrested in Pakistan; previously, he was in the Philippines. He left a computer behind with plans that included plans to kill Pope John Paul II and a plan to bomb 15 planes in 48 hours. He claimed that he was the mastermind behind the attack on the World Trade Center and that he was also the one who set the bomb. He said his only regret was not causing the towers to collapse into each other.
This bombing was just the beginning of something much worse; it was the tragic foreshadowing of September 11, 2001, when a group of Muslim extremists achieved Yousef’s goal of the two towers crashing into each other.
The 1993 attack is often overshadowed by the events of 9/11, but it shows that the World Trade Center was always a hot target for these attacks.
One day, hopefully, world peace will be the norm.
{Information for this article is sourced from The History Channel and The History Channel (7 Facts).}
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