DUSHANBE, September 11, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- The national flag over the US Embassy in Dushanbe is at half-mast today to mourn those who were killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States seven years ago.  

According to the US Embassy in Dushanbe, mourning events are being held across the United States and its diplomatic missions abroad.

The September 11 attacks (often referred to as 9/11) were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Islamic extremists belonging to the al-Qaeda movement upon the United States on September 11, 2001.  On that morning, terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners.  The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, killing everyone on board and many others working in the building, causing both buildings to collapse within two hours, destroying at least two nearby buildings and damaging others.  The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon.  The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania, after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington.  

Excluding the 19 hijackers, 2,974 people died in the attacks.  The overwhelming majority of casualties were civilians, including nationals of over 90 different countries.   

The United States responded to the attacks by declaring a War on Terrorism, launching an invasion of Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, who had had harbored al-Qaeda terrorists, and enacting the USA PATRIOT ACT.  Many other nations also strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded law enforcement powers.