kidnapped here. since the revolution at the beginning of last year, state authority in that part of egypt has really sort of crumbled and there are parts of the sinai that simply are out of government control. that particular area going up the eastern coast of the peninsula in the direction of israel and the direction of jordan has actually been relatively quiet compared to other parts of the sinai. this is another indication that the egyptian state doesn t have a lot of control in this area that was until quite recently quite popular with tourists. ben, do we know the condition that they re? reporter: the u.s. embassy is not releasing any personal details about these people. we understand there are two americans in their early 30s. interestingly enough, on the website of he will ha ram, the biggest newspaper in egypt, they did publish the passport numbers of these two individuals, which is something that the u.s. embassy is not really happy with. according to the account
no one expected anything of these kinds of consequences to be visited upon ts country in this horrific way that we have been witnessed to today. it is one more example as we have been saying this mornin g f events in far off places that have such an enormous impact here because the united states is in the eyes of so many people who are opposed to our system of government and our alliances, the devil incarnate, and today this is a very sophisticated, very cold-blooded, very widespread attack carried out with the most chilling kind of efficiency on several of the great nerve centers of our system of government and our way of life. hello everyone. i m alex witt live at minnesota headquarters in new york. you ve been watching coverage of the 9/11 terror attack in 2001 as it happened. it is now nine years later and throughout this morning memorials have taken place in new york, pennsylvania, and at the pentagon. these are live pictures from gr zero in lower manhattan. earlier frie
victims killed when terrorists hijacked four commercial planes and attacked the u.s. lower man families gathered at zuccotti park adjacent to ground zero. carl francis. chael a. reporter: as has now become tradition the names of victims were read one by one. the pain and emotions of that day still difficult to revisit nine years later. four moments of silence marked the times each plane hit and each tower fell. vice preside joe biden and his wife dr. jill biden attended the fremony, along with city and state leaders and first responders. and again,in ceremonies continu here in new york and will throughout the day along side some of those rallies that will also be protesting the islamic center.