United States President Barack Obama laid a wreath of red, white, and blue flowers at Ground Zero in New York on Thursday, on a trip to bring closure to September 11 families after the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Obama solemnly bowed his head and observed a moment of silence after laying the wreath at a spot where the famed twin towers of the World Trade Centre stood, until they were felled in an al-Qaeda terror strike using hijacked planes in 2001.
Obama, making his first visit to Ground Zero as president, later met relatives of victims of the attacks and took time out to meet firefighters and police, to acknowledge their heavy losses on the day of the attacks.
The president’s visit to New York came after he ordered a strike by US special forces deep into Pakistan on Sunday which killed the al-Qaeda leader, following a decade-long manhunt. — Sapa-AFP