THE world watched in horror almost a decade ago as hijacked passenger jets emerged from a clear blue sky to strike at the heart of the USA.

Televised live around the globe to a shocked audience of billions, the 9/11 attacks were meticulously planned by Islamist fanatics to kill as many people and gain as much publicity as possible.

Tuesday, September 11, 2001, dawned bright and sunny on the east coast of the United States, and millions of people began their journeys to work or set off on business trips across the country.

But among the innocent travellers boarding early morning flights that day were 19 terrorists inspired by the hate-filled ideology of al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Armed with small knives and box-cutters, they killed flight attendants and pilots to seize control of four domestic airliners with the aim of flying them into landmark business and government buildings.

The first anyone on the ground knew of the true nature of their murderous plot came at 8.46am local time, when American Airlines Flight 11 smashed into the north tower of the World Trade Centre in New York.

Many people assumed at first that this was a tragic accident, but it became clear that it was far more serious when United Airlines Flight 175 hit the south tower at 9.03am.

US president George Bush was meeting Florida elementary school pupils when his chief of staff whispered the news in his ear seven minutes later. He narrowed his eyes but continued listening to the children read a story.

At 9.30am, the grim-faced president told his nation and the world: “Two aeroplanes have crashed into the World Trade Centre in an apparent terrorist attack on our country.”

But the horrors of the day were not over. At 9.37am, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US Department of Defence, in Washington DC.

Meanwhile, back in New York, rescue workers were battling to get people out of the Twin Towers as fires raged on the upper floors.

Those trapped above the inferno by heat and smoke called their families to tell them they loved them, many leaving poignant answerphone messages to say goodbye.

An estimated 200 people chose to jump from the upper floors of the skyscrapers rather than face being burnt to death.

At 9.59am, less than an hour after it was hit, the south tower collapsed, crushing those trapped inside and sending a vast dust cloud billowing through the streets of downtown Manhattan.

Four minutes later, the final hijacked aircraft, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after a group of passengers fought back against the terrorists to stop them reaching their intended target, now thought to have been the White House or the Capitol.

The north tower of the World Trade Centre fell at 10.28am, ending 102 minutes that stunned the world and brought about a radical shift in US foreign policy, as President Bush launched his War on Terror.

The 9/11 attacks claimed the lives of 2,977 innocent people, including 67 Britons, making them the deadliest terrorist atrocity America has ever experienced. Some 2,753 died in New York, 184 in Washington and 40 in Pennsylvania. Among the dead were 343 firefighters, 37 police officers, two FBI officers and one US secret service agent.

Londoner Elizabeth Turner was pregnant with her first child when her husband, Simon, flew to New York for a business trip.

She watched the suicide attacks unfold live on television from her office in the UK knowing that her husband was in the north tower of the World Trade Centre.

Mr Turner was killed and never met his son, William, who was born two months after the tragedy and is now coming up to his 10th birthday.