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Below is some background information on the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six people and injured more than 1,000. Six suspects were found guilty of directly participating in the attack. The seventh suspect, Abdul Rahman Yasin, remains at large.
The explosion created a 200-foot by 100-foot hole, several stories deep. It caused the roof of the PATH station to collapse.
The 1,200-pound bomb was in a Ryder truck parked in a parking lot beneath the World Trade Center.
An estimated 50,000 people were evacuated.
Ramzi Yousef directed the organization and execution of the attack. He said he did it to avenge the sufferings the Palestinian people had suffered at the hands of Israel, aided by the United States.
February 26, 1993 – At 12:18 pm ET, a bomb explodes on the second underground level of the public parking lot of the Hotel Vista, beneath the 2 World Trade Center building.
February 28, 1993 – The FBI confirms that a bomb caused the explosion. Among the rubble, federal agents find mangled pieces of a pickup truck with a vehicle identification number.
March 4, 1993 – Mohammad Salameh is arrested after demanding reimbursement for a rented van that authorities believe was transporting the explosives.
March 5, 1993 – Authorities confiscate bomb-making chemicals in a shed Salameh had rented.
March 10, 1993 – Nidal Ayyad is arrested at his home in New Jersey.
March 18, 1993 – Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman denies involvement in the attack. Abdel-Rahman is an Egyptian cleric who emigrated to the United States. Some of the suspects in the 1993 bombing frequented the New Jersey mosque where he preached.
March 24, 1993 – Mahmud Abouhalima is arrested in Egypt and extradited to the United States.
March 29, 1993 – The World Trade Center reopens its doors.
May 6, 1993 – Ahmad Ajaj becomes the sixth person charged in the attack.
August 25, 1993 – Abdel-Rahman is accused of participating in a major terrorist plot that includes the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
October 4, 1993 – The trial opens for four of the accused: Salameh, Ayyad, Abouhalima and Ajaj.
March 4, 1994 – Four defendants, Salameh, Ayyad, Abouhalima and Ajaj, are convicted. They are sentenced to prison terms of 240 years each. In 1998 the sentences were annulled. In 1999, the men were again sentenced to sentences of more than 100 years.
February 7, 1995 – Yousef, alleged mastermind of the WTC attack, is captured abroad by the FBI and the State Department.
October 1995 – Abdel-Rahman is convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison.
January 8, 1998 – After being found guilty, Yousef is sentenced to 240 years in prison for his role in organizing the attack. “I am a terrorist and I am proud of it,” he tells the court.
April 3, 1998 – Eyad Ismoil is sentenced to 240 years. Ismoil drove the van loaded with a homemade bomb toward the World Trade Center.
August 4, 1998 – A federal appeals court upholds the 1994 convictions of four men convicted of the bombing, but orders their resentencing because they did not have attorneys when they were originally sentenced.
August 6, 2001 – A federal appeals panel upholds the sentences of the four men who had been convicted.
April 4, 2005 – The United States Department of State announces that it is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Abdul Rahman Yasin, who is still at large.
September 26, 2005 – A jury begins hearing arguments over whether the owners of the World Trade Center should be held responsible for the 1993 terrorist attack on the fallen monument. Hundreds of affected and surviving businesses allege in the lawsuit that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey failed to implement experts' recommendations to end public access to an underground parking lot.
October 26, 2005 – A New York jury rules that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was negligent in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people and injured 1,000. Damages will be determined in the cases of individual victims.
April 30, 2008 – An appeals court upholds a 2005 ruling holding the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey liable for damages suffered during the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
February 20, 2009 – The first trial involving a victim of the 1993 World Trade Center attack and the Port Authority opens. Linda Nash is seeking up to $8 million in damages for injuries she suffered in the attack.
March 12, 2009 – A jury awards Nash $5.46 million for injuries he suffered in the attack.
September 22, 2011 – The New York Court of Appeals, in a 4-3 ruling, excludes the Port Authority from accusations of negligence related to the 1993 bombing.
May 11, 2012 – The judgment in which Nash was awarded $5.46 million for injuries sustained in the attack is dismissed based on the Port Authority's exclusion of liability.
July 14, 2015 – Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court reinstates jury award for Nash.
February 18, 2017 – Abdel-Rahman, the blind Egyptian-born cleric who inspired terrorist plots including the 1993 World Trade Center attack, has died in a US prison at the age of 78.
