By Arun Kumar
New York, Sep 11 (IANS) America Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack that killed 2,977 people, including 41 Indian Americans, with solemn ceremonies across the nation in the shadow of the threat of another terrorist attack.
Thousands gathered Sunday morning at New York's Ground Zero, stood still in silence, some crying as they listened to the names of victims of the Sep 11, 2001 attacks being read aloud.
"They were our neighbours, our friends, our wives, children and parents," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who, along with President Barack Obama, helped lead the commemoration on the 10th anniversary of the attack.
The solemn ceremony at the site of the World Trade Centre came amid a heavy security presence permeating the area in lower Manhattan, as authorities continued their search for possible plotters of another terrorist strike.
At the ceremony, Obama and the first lady stood behind bullet-proof protection. Former President George W. Bush, who was president at the time, read a letter sent by Abraham Lincoln to a woman who lost five sons in the Civil War.
Those who lost loved ones in the attacks stepped forward to read names. In all, 2,753 people died on two airplanes and on the ground when the planes slammed into the World Trade Centre towers, causing their collapse. That total does not include the 10 hijackers on board the planes.
A moment of silence spread across New York City at 8:46 a.m. -- the time when American Airlines flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre. Houses of worship tolled their bells.
The city observed another moment of silence at 9.03 a.m., when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.
More than 200 miles away in Washington, mourners observed a moment of silence at 9.37 a.m. -- the moment American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon and killed 184 people.
And at 10.03 a.m., silence fell on Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 thwarted a hijacking plot to slam into the White House or the Capitol and crashed the plane into the ground.