World Trade Center bombing


On February 26, 1993, a truck bomb planted by Islamist terrorists exploded
in the underground garage of the north tower of the World Trade Center,
opening a 30 meter wide hole through 4 sublevels of concrete. Six people
were killed and at least 1,040 were injured. Six militant Islamist
conspirators were convicted of the crime in 1997 and 1998 and given prison
sentences of 240 years each.

In 1995, militant Islamist Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and nine others were
convicted of conspiracy charges, and in 1998, Ramzi Yousef, believed to have
been the mastermind, was convicted of "seditious conspiracy" to bomb the
towers - no one was ever convicted for the actual bombing.

In the course of the trial it was revealed that the FBI had an informant, an
Egyptian man named Emad Salem, who was involved with the bombing conspiracy.
Salem claims to have informed the FBI of the plot to bomb the towers as
early as February 6, 1992, information he was privy to possibly because he
himself initiated the plot. Salem's role as informant allowed the FBI to
quickly pinpoint the conspirators out of the hundreds of possible suspects.

Salem asserts that the original plan was to have the plotters build the bomb
using a harmless powder instead of actual explosive, but that an FBI
supervisor decided that a real bomb should be constructed instead. He
substantiates his claims with hundreds of hours of secretly-recorded
conversations with his FBI handlers, made during discussions held after the bombings.

Salem says he wished to complain to FBI headquarters in Washington about the
failure to prevent the bombing despite foreknowledge, but was dissuaded from
doing so by the New York FBI office.

The FBI has not explicitly denied Salem's account.

On March 4, 1993 authorities announced the capture of one of the suspected
bombing conspirators Mohammad Salameh and exactly one year later four
terrorists were convicted for their roles in the bombing.

A granite memorial to the six victims of the bombing was erected between the
Twin Towers, directly above the site of the explosion. This memorial was
obliterated during the destruction of the towers in 2001.