New York marks 9/11 attacks against divided backdrop

New York on Thursday marked the devastating attacks of September 11, 2001, 24 years after the plane hijackings that claimed almost 3,000 lives and forever changed the United States.

Memorial events were held at Ground Zero in Manhattan, where the World Trade Center's twin towers were destroyed in coordinated attacks that also saw a jetliner crash into the Pentagon in Washington.

Another jet, Flight 93, crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside when passengers overran the hijacker and took control of the aircraft.

This year's gathering takes place against a febrile atmosphere following the killing of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk in Utah.

Vice President JD Vance had been due to attend events in New York but will reportedly travel to Utah in the wake of the killing.

Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot in the neck while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

The United States has faced a rash of political violence in recent months, with the killing of Kirk following the targeted killing of a Democratic Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and the firebombing of a Democratic governor's residence.

New York is in the grip of a divisive mayoral election campaign, in which socialist Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing off against the former governor, Andrew Cuomo, and the sitting mayor, Eric Adams.

New Yorkers go to the polls on November 4.

Adams attended the ceremony on Thursday alongside former mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led the city through the tragedy.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Mamdani, who is Muslim and a naturalized U.S. citizen, while one Republican lawmaker has called for Mamdani to be deported.

Mamdani holds a 22-point lead in the race, according to the latest polling from The New York Times and Siena.

"It was this horrific day that was also for many New Yorkers the moment at which they were marked an 'other,'" Mamdani told The New York Times, describing the surge in Islamophobic attacks that followed 9/11.

New York marked a citywide moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time that hijacked Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Places of worship across the city then sounded their bells to mark the impact as families of the victims read the names of those killed at ground zero.

The official death toll was 2,977, including the passengers and crew of the four hijacked planes, victims in the twin towers, firefighters, and personnel at the Pentagon. The death toll excludes the 19 Al-Qaeda hijackers.

(With input from AFP)