On This Day | America faces ‘darkest hour’ as 9/11 attacks unfold in 2001 – SCMP archive - South China Morning Post

SCMPPublished: 10:30am, 11 Sep 2026This article was first published on September 12, 2001.

President George W. Bush this morning (September 12, 2001) told the United States that thousands had lost their lives after two hijacked airliners destroyed New York’s World Trade Centre and another smashed into the Pentagon in the most brutal terrorist attacks in the nation’s history.

Mr Bush, in a televised address to the nation, condemned the “despicable” attacks, saying: “These acts shattered steel but they cannot dampen the steel of American resolve”.

But as his top security team put the nation on a war footing from secure crisis bunkers, officials denied the US was responsible for what initially appeared to be missile strikes on Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, early this morning.

The first hijacked plane struck the World Trade Centre early yesterday (September 11, 2001) and then millions around the world watched in horror as a second struck it just 18 minutes later. Within 30 minutes another airliner had smashed into a wall of the Pentagon, America’s defence headquarters.