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Vb. ' • . ’ . • \ -r ... 7-: • : 7 - ^ • 7-- - », -• 7" . ’ U.S. FACES WORST TERRORIST ATTACK IN HISTORY President Bush says United States will ‘hunt down’ those responsible BY DAVID CRARY AND JERRY SCHWARTZ ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK (AP)— In the most dev astating terrorist onslaught ever '} waged against the United States, knife-wielding hijackers crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center on Tuesday, toppling its twin 110-story towers. The deadly calamity was witnessed on televi sions across the world as another plane slammed into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed outside Pittsburgh. “Today, our nation saw evil,” President Bush said in an address to the nation Tuesday night. He said thousands of lives were “sud denly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.” Said Adm. Robert J. Natter, commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet: “We have been attacked like p, we haven’t since Pearl Harbor.” Establishing the death toll could take weeks. The four airlin ers alone had 266 people aboard and there were no known sur vivors. Officials put the number of dead and wounded at the Pentagon at about 100 or more, with some news reports suggest ing it could rise to 800. In addition, a union official said he feared 300 firefighters who first reached the scene had died in res cue efforts at the trade center — where 50,000 people worked — and dozens of police officers were miss ing. “The number of casualties will be more than most of us can bear,” a visibly distraught Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said. Police sources said some peo ple trapped in the twin towers managed to call authorities or family members and that some trapped police officers made radio contact. In one of the calls, which took place in the afternoon, a busi nessman phoned his family to say he was trapped with policemen, whom he named, the source said. Because of fires and unstable debris, no rescue attempts were going on Tuesday night at the site of the towers, however. No one took responsibility for the attacks that rocked the seats of finance and government. But federal authorities identified Osama bin Laden, who has been given asylum by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, as the prime sus pect. Aided by an intercept of com munications between his sup porters and harrowing cell phone calls from at least one flight atten dant and two passengers aboard the jetliners before they crashed, U.S. officials began assembling a case linking bin Laden to the dev astation. U.S. intelligence intercepted communications between bin Laden supporters discussing the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, according to Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The people aboard planes who managed to make cell phone calls each described similar circum stances: They indicated the hi jackers were armed with knives, in some cases stabbing flight at tendants. The hijackers then took control of the planes. All of the planes were bound for California and thus loaded with fuel. At the World Trade Center, the dead and the doomed plum meted from the skyscrapers, among them a man and woman holding hands. Shortly after 7 p.m., crews be gan heading into ground zero of the attack to search for survivors and recover bodies. All that re mained of the twin towers by then was a pile of rubble and twisted steel that stood five stories high, leaving a huge gap in the New York City skyline. “Freedom itself was attacked this morning and I assure you freedom will be defended,” said Bush, who was in Florida at the time of the catastrophe. As a se curity measure, he was shuttled to a Strategic Air Command bunker in Nebraska before leav ing for Washington. “Make no mistake,” he said. “The United States will hunt down and pursue those responsible for these cowardly actions.” More than nine hours after the U.S. attacks began, explosions could be heard north of the Afghan capital of Kabul, but American officials said the United States was not responsible. “It isn’t us. I don’t know who’s doing it,” Pentagon spokesman Craig Quigley said. Officials across the world con demned the attacks but in the West Bank city of Nablus, thou ♦ ATTACK, SEE PAGE 2 HOW TO FIND, GIVE HELP Grief counseling THE USC COUNSELING AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CENTER is offering grief counseling at 900 Assembly St. Walk-ins are welcome, or you can call 777-5223 to set up an appointment. Although no specific counseling groups have been set up, the center intends to create one soon. Religious services THE CAROLINA CHAPLAINS ASSOCIATION will hold a special prayer meeting at 12 p.m. in Rutledge Chapel. The chapel will be open Wednesday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Staff will be there to offer counseling and other assistance. PALM will hold an all-campus prayer vigil over the attacks on the U.S. Wednesday at noon in Rutledge Chapel. PALM will also offer a reflection and service Wednesday evening at 5:30 in the Rutledge Chapel. Blood bank information Call 540-1214 if you're interested in giving blood. Call 251 -6000 for general information and appointments SOUTH CAROLINA JUDICIAL CENTER, Wednesday from 10 a.m. -3 p.m. LEXINGTON MEDICAL CENTER, Thursday from 10 a.m.-3p.m. THE VISTA COMMONS, Thursday from 3 p.m.-7 p.m. Airline contact numbers for missing people AMERICAN AIRLINES: (800) 245-0999 UNITED AIRLINES: (800) 932-8555 IMPORTANT WEB SITES: http://helping .org http://www.ifccfbi.gov COMPILED BY LAURA MOSS, STEFANIE PARKER, SEAN WALLER AND KAREN YIP INSIDE TODAY’S ISSUE 1_:_J PHOTO BY AARON HARK Columbia community offers assistance Citizens line up to donate blood at the Red Cross. ♦ PAGE 5 PHOTO BY AARON HARK South Carolina reacts to terrorist events I City and state offices remain open under high security. ♦ PAGE 4 PHOTO BY JOSH SKIDMORE use community views coverage at GMP Russell House is center of information on tragedy. ♦ PAGE 5