World Trade Center site
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaeda hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, both which were en route to Los Angeles, and intentionally crashed them into the two main towers of the World Trade Center. The towers collapsed within two hours of the collisions. 2,606 people, including 2,192 civilians, 71 law enforcement officers, and 343 firefighters, who were in the towers and in the surrounding area died in the attacks, as well as 147 civilians and the 10 hijackers aboard the two airliners. After the collapse of the World Trade Center, hospital workers and law enforcement officers began referring to the World Trade Center site as "Ground Zero".
Nawaf al-Hazmi
On September 10, 2001, Hazmi, along with Mihdhar and Hanjour checked into a hotel in Herndon, Virginia. The next morning, Hazmi and four other terrorists, boarded American Airlines Flight 77 at Dulles Airport and hijacked the plane so that Hani Hanjour could pilot and crash the plane into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks. The crash killed all 64 passengers aboard the aircraft and 125 in the Pentagon. Hazmi was initially dismissed as a "muscle hijacker" following the attacks, but was later revealed to have played a larger role in the operational planning than previously believed. His younger brother, Salem al-Hazmi, was another of the hijackers aboard the same flight.