1993 World Trade Center Bombing (Feb 26 1993)

Introduction

At 12:17 p.m. on 26 February 1993 a rented Ryder van laden with approximately 1,500 pounds of urea-nitrate explosive detonated in the B-2 underground parking level beneath One World Trade Center — the North Tower — in Lower Manhattan. The blast killed six people, injured more than 1,000, blew a crater roughly 100 feet wide and five floors deep into the tower's foundation, and sent smoke flooding upward through the building, trapping thousands of office workers on upper floors for hours.

The attack was the first major foreign terrorist strike on American soil and the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States up to that point. It would be eclipsed by the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and then by the 11 September 2001 attacks that destroyed the same towers. Understanding the 1993 bombing — its perpetrators, its prosecution, and the conspiracy claims surrounding it — matters both historically and for assessing what the US government knew, and when.

The Attack

The bomb was composed of urea nitrate mixed with fuel oil and hydrogen cylinders intended to spread cyanide gas (the cyanide element burned off in the explosion, mitigating the planned secondary effect). The van was rented from a Ryder agency in New Jersey. The detonating device was jury-rigged from a timer and model rocket igniters.

The six victims were employees working in or near the parking levels. More than 1,000 people were treated for smoke inhalation, injuries from the blast, and related trauma. The structural damage to the tower was severe but the building did not collapse — a fact that would later inform al-Qaeda's determination to bring the towers down entirely.

The Investigation and Arrests

The FBI investigation moved rapidly. Mohammed Salameh, one of the plotters, had rented the Ryder van under his own name. When the van's axle was recovered from the blast site and traced to the rental agency, investigators identified Salameh. In a now-famous sequence, Salameh returned to the Ryder agency the day after the bombing to recover his $400 deposit, claiming the van had been stolen — and was arrested on the spot. The combination of his own paperwork and the physical evidence made his prosecution straightforward.

Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind who had assembled the bomb and directed the operation, had already fled to Pakistan. He was captured in Islamabad on 7 February 1995 and extradited to the United States. Mahmud Abouhalima, who had helped finance and support the operation, fled to Egypt but was extradited. Nidal Ayyad, a chemical engineer who procured materials, and Ahmad Ajaj, who had trained with Yousef in Pakistan, were also arrested.

The Trials and Convictions

All five principal defendants were tried in the Southern District of New York. Salameh, Abouhalima, Ayyad, and Ajaj were convicted in March 1994. Yousef was convicted separately in November 1997. Patrick Fitzgerald, who would later prosecute the 2001 embassy bombing cases and the Valerie Plame leak, was among the prosecutors on the case.

The trials established the operational and financing details of the attack in exhaustive evidentiary record. No finding of government complicity, advance knowledge, or deliberate inaction was made during the trials or in subsequent appellate proceedings.

The Omar Abdel-Rahman Connection

The cell was linked to Omar Abdel-Rahman, the Egyptian cleric known as the Blind Sheikh, who led the Al-Salaam Mosque in Jersey City and New Jersey mosques attended by the plotters. Abdel-Rahman was not charged in the 1993 bombing itself but was tried and convicted in 1995 for seditious conspiracy — specifically for directing a broader campaign that included the 1993 bombing and a subsequent plot to bomb New York City landmarks including the United Nations headquarters, the FBI offices, and the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels. He died in federal custody in 2017.

Conspiracy Claims

The principal alternate-theory claims about the 1993 bombing concern government foreknowledge. The most persistent version holds that an FBI informant named Emad Salem was present within the cell and that the FBI allowed the attack to proceed despite advance knowledge, either to gather more intelligence or to manufacture a terrorism crisis. Salem did work as an FBI informant both before and after the bombing. A recorded conversation between Salem and his FBI handler, made public during the subsequent trials, showed Salem was frustrated that the FBI had not acted to prevent the attack.

The full picture: Salem was an informant who had penetrated the cell and provided intelligence. He was removed from the informant programme in mid-1992 following a dispute with his handlers over recording agreements and payment. His access to the cell lapsed. He was reactivated after the bombing and was instrumental in uncovering the subsequent landmarks plot, which was interdicted before any attack occurred.

The claim that the FBI could have stopped the 1993 bombing had it kept Salem active is plausible as a counterfactual; the claim that the FBI deliberately allowed the bombing to proceed is a significantly stronger assertion with no evidentiary basis in the trial record, the FBI's internal reviews, or independent investigations. The breakdown in the informant relationship was the result of bureaucratic and contractual disputes, not strategic decision-making about whether to permit an attack.

Verdict

Confirmed on the basic facts: Yousef, Salameh, Abouhalima, Ayyad, and Ajaj planned and carried out the bombing; the convictions are solid and the evidentiary record is exhaustive. The alternate-theory claim of deliberate government foreknowledge and inaction has been examined in court, in journalism, and in official reviews, and has not been sustained.

What Would Change Our Verdict

• Declassified FBI or intelligence documents showing deliberate decision-making to permit the attack
• Credible whistleblower testimony from within the investigation chain establishing deliberate non-intervention
• New forensic or financial evidence of additional funding sources with government links