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Suicide bombs in Lebanon
Israel invaded Lebanon because the Palestinian
Liberation Organisation was using it as a base for its terrorist
attacks. Eventually two suicide bombers killed 299
French and American soldiers in their bases at Beirut causing the US to withdraw troops. -
Al-Qaeda formed
Osama bin Laden and extremist Muslims
set up an organisation called Al-Qaeda. It means “The Base” and the organisation’s goal was to provide money and training to support attacks on the enemies of Islam. This group later organized the 9/11 attacks. -
Mujahideen defeats Soviet army in Afghanistan
The Muslim troops that defeated the Soviets were called "Mujahideen". This gave them extreme confidence and led to enough confidence to carry out the attacks on 9/11. -
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and took
its oil wells and ports before American forces regained Kuwaits freedoms. Osama bin Laden was disgusted when American forces were invited to be based in Saudi Arabia during the war. -
US troops suffer losses in Somalia
an American force tried to capture a tribal leader who had been
responsible for many deaths but the mission went wrong and resulted in the death of 19 US soldiers and many more Somalis. Soon afterwards, the US withdrew its troops from Somalia. This caused Osama bin Laden to think that the USA would end
its support for Israel and remove its bases from Saudi Arabia if Al-Qaeda were to hit US cities with massive terrorist attacks. -
Khalid Sheikh Mohamed suggests an attack on USA
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed met Osama bin Laden at the Al-Qaeda base in Afghanistan. He put forward his plan to attack US cities by flying hijacked planes into well-known buildings. Later, Osama bin Laden declared war with US. -
Bin Laden warns USA to expect attacks
Osama bin Laden called on all Muslims to serve God by killing Americans so that the USA would withdraw its troops from Saudi Arabia and end its support from Israel. Later, in an interview, he again warned the US of direct attacks. -
Bin Laden starts planning 9/11 attacks
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Osama bin Laden finally agreed to plan an attack on sites in the USA, using suicide bombers and planes. This was the start of the 9/11 attacks. -
Al-Qaeda agents move to USA
Al-Qaeda agents started to arrive in the USA to learn how to fly planes and prepare for the 9/11 attacks. -
Final planning for 9/11 attacks
Mohammed Atta, travelled from the USA to Madrid in Spain to meet his Al-Qaeda contact there. After this meeting, Atta flew back to America and arranged the final practical details such as buying tickets for the flights that were to be hijacked. -
9/11 attacks take place
Starting at around 9:00 AM, three planes were hijacked and flown into the world Trade Center and the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed into the ground, killing all passengers on board. The Twin Towers eventually collapsed, killing thousands of people trapped inside.
