1993 World Trade Center bombing — truck bomb detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was the first major foreign terrorist attack on U.S. soil, killing six and injuring over a thousand.
Key Facts
- Date
- February 26, 1993
- Bomb weight
- 1,336 pounds (606 kg) urea nitrate device
- Deaths
- 6
- Injuries
- Over 1,000
- Evacuated
- Approximately 50,000 people
- Convictions
- 6 individuals convicted by November 1997
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Ramzi Yousef and a group of associates planned a large-scale terrorist attack intended to collapse the North Tower of the World Trade Center onto the South Tower, aiming to kill tens of thousands of people. The conspirators assembled a urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced bomb and loaded it into a van.
On February 26, 1993, the van bomb was detonated in the parking garage beneath the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The explosion killed six people and injured more than a thousand, while approximately 50,000 people were evacuated from the complex. The towers did not collapse as the attackers had intended.
Four perpetrators were convicted in March 1994, and two more, including mastermind Ramzi Yousef, in November 1997. The attack exposed significant vulnerabilities in U.S. domestic security and prompted investigations into FBI informant handling, after recordings suggested an FBI supervisor may have declined a plan that could have thwarted the bombing.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Ramzi Yousef, Eyad Ismoil, Mahmud Abouhalima.
Side B
1 belligerent