World leaders, united in their belief that the threat of global terrorism was as potent as ever, on Saturday marked the 'September 11' attacks on New York and Washington in which nearly 3000 people died. However, as the United States prepared to reflect on an event scorched on the nation's consciousness and whose consequences are still being felt today, the emphasis in many other regions was more on security than commemoration.
After another deadly extremist strike, this time on Indonesia, the shadow of the attacks on the giant World Trade Centre towers in New York and the Pentagon building in Washington provoked a mood of shock but grim determination.
European Union finance ministers bowed their heads in silence at a meeting in the Netherlands to mark the third anniversary of the attacks in US. "We started our meeting with a moment of silence in respect of the victims of terrorism, not only from that time in New York but also for all the other victims after that date," Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm said.
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski also paid homage to the victims of the atrocities. "It is with sadness, disappointment and shock seared in our memory that we remember the thousands of people who died in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania," he said.
A fourth aircraft came down in open countryside in the north-eastern US state of Pennsylvania. Kwasniewski said international terrorism had become a "tool of criminals and madmen who are rejected by all peoples, the world community and all religions, without exception."
Britain's Sir Jeremy Greenstock, who was ambassador to the UN in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq, said in London that leaders must take the long view in the fight against global terrorism. "We need to think not just about the use of military force but about the wider policies that need to starve terrorism of the oxygen it gets from world-wide resentment and polarisation, mostly against the West," he said.
Reflecting on 'September 11' he said: "I think it was one of the objectives of Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda leadership originally to draw America into conflict on Arab soil as close to Saudi Arabia as possible."
Most of the 'September 11' highjackers were Saudi nationals, and on Saturday a top aide of de facto Saudi Arabia ruler Crown Prince Abdullah admitted that the attacks had "shaken" traditionally close ties with Washington.
But in an interview published by the Saudi-owned daily Al-Haya, Adel al-Jubeir said the two sides now approached their relations "more seriously" and with "greater transparency", leaving them "stronger and more solid."
In Britain, which lost 67 people in the attacks, relatives were due to begin gathering at a memorial garden outside the US embassy which was to remain closed to the public to allow mourners to express their grief privately. Alexis Clarke, chairman of the UK 9/11 family support group, said: "Not all have a body or body parts returned; so for them this is a grave. It is a very special place," he said.
While no major commemorative events were held in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia and Indonesia continued to investigate Thursday's bombing of Canberra's embassy in Jakarta, amid fears that further attacks would follow.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the fight against global terrorism would be a long, bloody one as the world had changed with the 2001 attacks.
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said terrorism was still a deadly threat and that the upmost vigilance was required by everyone. "The deadly threat is still there," Arroyo said. "More than ever, we need the vigilance of every Filipino to pre-empt any strike and to intercept any remaining terrorist cells that may be planning mayhem," she said.
In Pakistan, security forces went on high alert to confront planned demonstrations by some parties against US "anti-Muslim policies" to mark September 11.
In the US, ceremonies were held to mark the attacks. At Ground Zero in New York, the spot where the twin towers collapsed after being smashed by hijacked jetliners, a ceremony was held in which parents and grandparents read the names of the 2,749 victims of the World Trade Centre attack.
The reading paused at four moments: twice to mark the times that each plane hit the towers, and twice more to mark the moment each tower fell.
Later in the evening, two powerful spotlights sent two shafts of light up into the night sky to symbolise the fallen structures.
US President George W Bush observed a moment of silence on the lawn of the White House at 8:46 am (1246 GMT)--exactly the time the first plane struck the World Trade Centre.
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