Years after 9/11: A look back at decades of terror attacks on America

Twenty-five years after Sept. 11, 2001, the article revisits how the U.S. had experienced terrorism before the attacks that reshaped global security. It recounts the Sept. 11 plot, in which 19 hijackers commandeered four commercial planes, crashing them into New York’s twin towers, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back, killing 2,996 people, including the attackers. It then traces earlier incidents: the Weather Underground’s 1960s–70s campaign of bombings in the U.S.; Hezbollah’s 1983 attacks including the Beirut embassy bombing (63 dead, 120 injured) and the Marine Barracks bombing (242 dead, 60 injured); later hijackings and bombings tied to groups and regimes abroad; the 1993 World Trade Center garage bombing; and the Oklahoma City attack in 1995.