On February 26th, 1993 at 12:18 PM, in an attempt to bring down the Twin Towers, Middle Eastern terrorists with a hatred of the United States, its foreign policy, and relationship its with Israel, set off a bomb in the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center. The resulting explosion created a 200 by 100 foot wide hole and it destroyed several steel-enforced concrete floors near the blast. The goal of the explosion was to topple one of the towers and have it strike the others, collapsing both being the end goal. While this didn't quite work, 6 people died and over 1,000 were injured. At the same time, the World Trade Center suffered over $500 million dollars in damages.
The result of the bombings was an FBI investigation and a massive manhunt for the terrorists. Days after the incident, several radical Islamic fundamentalists were arrested as suspects, and 4 total were convicted by March of 1994. The first of the total seven who were involved was arrested on March 4th of the same year after the suspect attempted to refund the van that authorities believed had carried bombs. On March 10th, another suspect was arrested in his home in New Jersey. Another perpetrator on March 24th was arrested and slowly all but a few remained on the run. Of those still in the run, the man behind the operation remained at large until February 1995, when he was arrested in Pakistan. On a computer belonging to the man leader or mastermind of the operation revealed further plans, one plan to kill Pope John Paul II, and another to bomb 15 American airliners in 48 hours. And once captured, he himself even stated he planned everything from beginning to end, that he lit the fuse and that his only regret was that the towers didn't collapse. One last suspect, however, remains even today on the run. The attack was a scary glimpse for what would come in the future with 9/11 and other terrorist attacks on American soil. Victims of the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing were rewarded millions and of those involved, five were sentenced to life in prison.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/news/remembering-the-1993-world-trade-center-bombing
https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/05/us/1993-world-trade-center-bombing-fast-facts/index.html
https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/world-trade-center-bombing-1993
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/world-trade-center-bombed
This is a really well written and concise post! The 1993 World Trade Center Bombing had a very profound effect on Americans all over the country, as they now feared the possibility of more major attacks on their own soil. This was a major-eye opener as foreign terrorism was almost unknown, as the name of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, was not even on the government's radar at all. Once America was introduced to this new danger, new security measures were made at the site of the World Trade Center and around its Manhattan location. These included steel barriers around buildings, the closure of the City Hall to the public, and restrictions of roads surrounding federal buildings.
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