FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-EMERGENCYNET NEWS SVC.-02/26/93-2000CST (Initial report)

"TERRORIST" BOMB ROCKS WORLD TRADE CENTER, SEVEN (7) DEAD, 650 INJURED

By Paul Anderson - Metro Correspondent

New York, NY - What has been described as a "tremendous detonation" roared through several floors of the World Trade Center this afternoon and sparked a major fire that burned for more than two (2) hours. Early reports indicate that the explosion occurred at approximately 12:18 p.m. EST and that the point of origin of the blast was probably in a parking garage two stories below street level. The immediate area of detonation was described as a hole more than 30 square meters in diameter. The burst is also blamed for causing a ceiling collapse in the Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH) train station, which reportedly caused as many as fifty (50) injuries due to falling debris.

The world's second largest building had undoubtedly suffered a major insult. Within ten minutes of the detonation, dozens of calls for help were being received by city 911 operators telling them that thick, caustic, black smoke had filled many floors in the building. Reports flooded into an emergency command post outside the building that dozens of people were trapped both as the result of the smoke and the rubble that was caused by the explosion and internal collapse of at least two floors within the building. Reportedly, the blast also ripped a 180 ft. hole in the wall of the adjoining PATH station.

At the time of this report, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly would not speculate on the origin or cause of the blast, but did admit that police and fire officials had just about totally ruled out the possibility of an electrical or gas
explosion. Commissioner Kelly said that he had requested and was receiving the help of both the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). A special response team of forensic and explosive experts was reportedly
dispatched to New York by the Federal government. An as yet unconfirmed report also said that an elite federal
anti-terrorist team had been dispatched to New York to assist the New York Police.

Two different highly placed official sources, who both requested anonymity, said that the likelihood that the
explosion was the result of a "large explosive device...probably a car bomb" was extremely great. Speculation as to
the motivation and parties responsible for the disaster have been fueled by unofficial reports of at least two phone calls
by a "Croatian Militant Group" and an "Islamic Fundamentalist Group", who both said that they had perpetrated the bombing. Police said that they had received a total of seven (7) calls accepting responsibility for the blast.

Clark Staten, of the Chicago-based Emergency Response & Research Institute, said "The size and intensity of the blast would seem to suggest that the blast was caused by semetex or Composition Four (C-4) plastic explosives." "To cause this big a diameter hole, it would be necessary to have placed a very large charge of military plastic explosives...probably in a car", he continued. "It is doubtful that a man or men could have carried in the amount of explosives necessary to have caused this detonation without attracting attention", Staten added. "On the other hand, it is a common terrorist tactic to purchase an older car, fill it with explosives, and set it to explode with a delayed timer", the author of `The Emergency Response Guide to Terrorism' said.

As to the motivation for the attack and the group responsible, Staten said that there are at least three main "suspects" on his personal list of possible perpetrators. "I would be looking for ties to Islamic Fundamentalists,  participants in either side of the Bosnia conflict, or terrorist allies of Saddam Hussein", Staten said. "It is also extremely possible that this bombing is the work of a group of mercenaries hired by any of the people I just mentioned", the anti-terrorist analyst continued. "It is extremely likely that this is the first major terrorist incident that has been carried out within the continental United States", Staten concluded.

Emergency Medical Services workers said that the devastation resulted in complete chaos as hundreds of the more than 100,000 people who work in the building were treated for smoke inhalation, cuts, fractures, crushing injuries, and a multitude of other injuries and illnesses aggravated by the fire and explosion. An unnamed Deputy Chief Paramedic said that his people had used more than fifty (50) ambulances to transport in excess of 650 people to a number of area hospitals. NYC EMS and Police verified that seven (7) people were known to be dead as the result of the incident. A City of New York Fire Department spokesperson said that as much as forty (40%) of all the available fire department units had been dispatched to the disaster.

Rescue efforts have continued into the night, with special rescue teams from dozens of different agencies sifting through the rubble of the collapsed floors in an attempt to find some sign of life. While fire officials said that they
felt that most of the building's inhabitants had been evacuated, they have continued their search in order to ensure that everyone has been removed from the building.

As rescue efforts continue, more questions are being asked than answered.

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