Remembering the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center

The attack on 9/11 was the second terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in less than a decade. On February 26, 1993, approximately 1,200 pounds of explosives in a rental van parked in the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center was detonated by a small cell of terrorists linked to a local radical mosque and an Islamist terror network. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum notes that the explosion created a five-story, 150-feetwide crater. The attack injured more than 1,000 people and killed six, including Monica Rodriguez Smith, who was pregnant. The day of the attack was her last day of work before maternity leave. Two memorials, a fountain and a brass plaque bearing the names of the victims of the 1993 attack, were ultimately created to commemorate those who lost their lives. Each memorial was destroyed in the attacks on September 11, 2001, but a small piece of the fountain was recovered in the aftermath of 9/11. That piece was rededicated on February 26, 2005.