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Thousand of investigators began piecing together the evidence to pinpoint those behind the worst ever terrorist acts in the history of the United States and the needle of suspicion pointed towards Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden reportedly based on the intercept of communications of his supporters.
They were also investigating security lapses at the domestic airports from where the flights originated and trying to find answers as to how the terrorists were able to smuggle in knives, which they used to reportedly hijack the planes.
Though no casualty figures were released to avoid speculation till late at night, reports said hundreds, if not thousands, might have perished when twin towers of the World Trade Centre collapsed with minutes of each other.
The casualties would be also high in the attack on the Pentagon building in Washington, officials said.
But Washington quickly moved to scotch reports that explosions witnessed in Kabul, Afghanistan, early on Wednesday were in retaliation by the US against the Taleban who have given shelter to bin Laden.
During the day, analysts also pointed fingers at Iraq and some even mentioned Iran but dismissed claims by smaller groups, arguing that the operation was so sophisticated and well timed that they would not have the expertise to do so.
The simultaneous hijacking of the four planes and choice of high profile financial and military targets required a high degree of coordination, extensive planning and lining up the right people, analyst say.
Suspicion was that the crashing of the planes into the World Trade Centre was deliberately timed so that the second incident could be caught on tape by television networks and would send a strong message of the capability of the terrorists.
If that was indeed the case, they were successful as the second plane crashing into the building was shown repeatedly during the day from different angles by TV networks.
PTI
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