Americans mark more low key 9/11 anniversary

US: Americans mark the 11th anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001 on Tuesday with relatively low key ceremonies that reflect a gradual dampening of passions around the emotional day.

The main ceremony will be the ritual reading at New York's Ground Zero of the names of the 2,983 people killed both on 9/11 and in the precursor to those attacks, the 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center.

Relatives of the dead will take turns to read the names against a backdrop of mournful music.

They will pause for moments of silence marking the moment when four planes hijacked by al-Qaeda turned into fireballs -- two smashing into the Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon and one crashing into a Pennsylvania field.

Another two moments of silence will be observed at the times the two towers collapsed, accounting for the vast majority of 9/11's victims.

However, this year New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other politicians will not take the podium at Ground Zero, in contrast with last year's 10th anniversary, when President Barack Obama led a long list of VIP guests.

AFP