9/11: United States marks 15th anniversary of terror attacks

9/11: United States marks 15th anniversary of terror attacks

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama stand in front of the White House as taps is played on the 14th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attack.

9/11: United States marks 15th anniversary of terror attacks

The United States is marking the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with solemn services to commemorate the victims of the deadliest terror strikes on American soil. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on September 11, 2001 when 19 Al-Qaeda suicide bombers hijacked four passenger jets, crashing them into the Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It was the first foreign attack on the US mainland in almost two centuries and sparked US-led invasions of Afghanistan, in 2001, and Iraq, in 2003, where war rages on more than a decade later.

9/11: United States marks 15th anniversary of terror attacks

An American flag flies near the base of the destroyed World Trade Center in New York on 9/11.

9/11: United States marks 15th anniversary of terror attacks

The names of the dead will be read out in a remembrance service at Ground Zero in New York on the site of the rebuilt World Trade Centre, and President Barack Obama will address a ceremony at the Pentagon.

9/11: United States marks 15th anniversary of terror attacks

The National September 11 Memorial is a tribute of remembrance and honor to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center site