February 1993 Bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City

The February 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City marked the beginning of an ugly new phase of terrorism involving the indiscriminate killing of civilians. The World Trade Center bombing was motivated by the desire to kill as many people as possible. The target of the bomb plot was the World Trade Center (WTC) complex, a sixteen-acre site in lower Manhattan. Although the explosion killed six people and injured more than 1,000 the consequences could have been far worse.The a WTC bombing was involved of terrorist use of chemical weapons. Evidence indicates that Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind was behind the attack. WTC bombing turned out to be a group of New Jersey men who had been suspected of terrorism for more than two years.Yousef attended a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, where he honed his skills as an explosives expert. He then traveled around the world working as a professional terrorist in the name of Islamic Jihad, although expressions of religious faith or motivation were notably absent from his statements. The Terrorists selected the World Trade Center as a target not because it was a symbol of Western values or the financial power of the United States, but simply because toppling the twin towers would enable them to inflict a large number of casualties.

http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/reports/wtc93.htm