SEPTEMBER 11, FIFTEEN YEARS AGO...

Special guests and dignitaries, including former Prime Minister John Howard have attended a church service for the victims of the September 11 attacks.The U-S President has marked the anniversary by urging Americans not to give in to fear, in the face of new terror threats. Song and prayer to remember the day that changed the world forever. Fifteen years ago, nearly three thousand people (2996) from 62 nations -- including 10 Australians -- died in the deadliest terror attack on American soil.Al-Qaeda suicide bombers hijacked four passenger planes, crashing them into the Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington -- and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.The attacks triggered the U-S-led invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 -- and Iraq in 2003. At St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney, more than a hundred people turned out to honour those who died in the attacks

A file picture dated 15 September 2001 shows smoke continues to rise from the destroyed World Trade Center in New York, USA. On 11 September 2001 Source: AAP