Religion and the twin towers

Answer 1

The Twin Towers (official name World Trade Center) - along with the passengers and crews of the two hijacked jets that were used in the attack - were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001 by terrorists from the extremist Islamist group al Qaeda, the core element of which was run by Osama bin Laden (before he was killed by U.S. Special Forces soldiers in May of 2011.)

Simultaneously, al Qaeda terrorists also attacked the U.S. Pentagon building with another hijacked jet, killing the passengers and crew along with many military and civilian employees at the Pentagon. The terrorists also hijacked a fourth jet which was headed towards Washington, D.C. before passengers fought back, with the jet crashing in rural Pennslvania, resulting in the deaths of all passengers and crew.

Al Qaeda attacked and destroyed the Twin Towers because they (falsely) believe that the West (i.e., the U.S. and Europe) are the aggressors in a (non-existent) war upon the people and Islamic nations of the Middle East. To them, the Twin Towers, which were home to many U.S.-based and foreign-based financial institutions, as well as numerous other corporations, symbolized the U.S., our economy, and our capitalist system. Likewise, they view the Pentagon as symbolizing the U.S. military.

For background information on Al Qaeda and bin Laden see what-is-al-qaeda. (N.B., that reference entry was written before the death of bin Laden.)