Truck Bomb Hits World Trade Center: First Attack
A Ryder rental truck packed with 1,200 pounds of urea nitrate explosive detonated in the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center's North Tower on February 26, 1993, blasting a crater five stories deep and killing six people. The bomber, Ramzi Yousef, had intended to topple the North Tower into the South Tower, killing tens of thousands. The towers swayed but held. Over 1,000 people were injured, many from smoke inhalation as the blast knocked out the building's emergency lighting and ventilation. Yousef fled to Pakistan and was captured in Islamabad in 1995. The mastermind was Yousef's uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who would later plan the September 11 attacks. The 1993 bombing exposed catastrophic security vulnerabilities at the World Trade Center, most of which were addressed through access control improvements that proved irrelevant against the aerial attack eight years later.
February 26, 1993
33 years ago
Key Figures & Places
New York City
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World Trade Center
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World Trade Center bombing
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North Tower
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1993 World Trade Center bombing
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1 World Trade Center (1970–2001)
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World Trade Center
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New York City
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Paulino Uzcudun
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Manhattan
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Islamic terrorism
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One World Trade Center
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