Fires burn at the Pentagon, 'large number' of injured
In all 184 people were killed when Al-Qaeda hijackers rammed a plane into the Pentagon, the military heart of the United States outside Washington, during the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Here are extracts from one of AFP's reports from the scene by Pentagon correspondent Jim Mannion.
WASHINGTON, September 11, 2001 (AFP) - Fires are still burning fiercely in the Pentagon and a large number of people have been injured there, a spokesman said, after a plane smashed into the building earlier Tuesday in an apparent terrorist attack.
Rear Admiral Craig Quigley spoke at around 2:10 pm to reporters gathered at a gas station near the Pentagon, which had been evacuated. Smoke was visible billowing from one facade of the Defense Department headquarters, located in Virginia just outside Washington.
The Pentagon is under its highest state of alert, threat condition delta, Quigley said.
"Fires are still burning very strongly inside the Pentagon ... we know there are a large number of injured but we have no sense of scale at all," Quigley said.
"It appears as if a plane intentionally flew into the Pentagon," he said, adding that he had no information on the type of plane. The impact came shortly after 9:00 am.
An eye-witness said an American Airlines passenger jet flew straight into the Pentagon and crashed into the first floor of the building.
- Huge hole -
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was in his office when the aircraft hit, Quigley said. "He went running down to the site where the aircraft hit and was helpful in loading some of the injured onto some stretchers."
Rumsfeld and a team of senior officials are now in the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon, a information nerve hub where officials gather in times of crisis to monitor developments.
It was not damaged in the attack but is smoky, Quigley said.
The airplane's impact left a huge gap in one side of the five-sided building and nearby walls scorched black by fire and smoke.
Shortly after the initial impact there was a secondary explosion from propane tanks that blew up in a part of the Pentagon that is undergoing renovations, according to Quigley.
"It's a section of the Pentagon that was under renovation so if we're fortunate, it might have been more lightly populated, but I don't know," he said.
The attack occurred shortly after two planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, causing them to collapse.
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- Flying 'fast and low' -
A witness said an American Airlines passenger jet flew low straight into the Pentagon and crashed into the first floor of the building.
"I saw this large American Airlines passenger jet coming in fast and low," said Army Captain Lincoln Liebner.
"My first thought was, I've never seen one that high. Before it hit, I realised what was happening," he said.
Liebner said the aircraft struck a helicopter on the helipad, setting fire to a fire truck.
"We got one guy out of the (firetruck) cab," he said, adding he could hear people crying inside the wreckage.
Liebner, who had cuts on his hands from the debris, said he had been parking his car in the parking lot when the crash occurred.
As the evacuation continued, police moved quickly to clear the area around the building.
The Pentagon is the country's largest office complex, with more than 24,000 people working within its walls.