September 11, 2001: Israeli tanks encircle Jenin

2001 - Israeli tanks rolled into the outskirts of the Palestinian-ruled city of Jenin and encircled it, in what the army said was an attempt to prevent suicide bombers reaching Israel. Calls for resistance rang out through loudspeakers on minarets as the tanks advanced and hospital officials said eight Palestinian fighters were hurt in gun battles. The army said it responded with automatic weapons and one tank shell. The Israeli army did not say how long it would stay, as tanks still stood on streets a few metres inside Jenin and on the hills around it hours later. Bulldozers dug up a road near the city and blocked others with rubble, witnesses said. Life in the centre of Jenin came to a halt and shops remained closed in fear of more tank movements.

Other important events

1697 - Prince Eugene of Savoy defeats Turks at Zenta, Hungary.

1789 - US President George Washington appoints stalwart Federalist Alexander Hamilton to be the first secretary of the treasury.

1830 - Republic of Ecuador is established and granted a constitution by Colombia.

1871 - The first passenger train passes through the Mount Cenis Tunnel between France and Italy.

1903 - The world’s oldest major motor speedway, the Milwaukee Mile, opens at the Wisconsin State Fair Park.

1916 - The Quebec Bridge in Canada collapses for the second time while being constructed, killing 13 workers.

1919 - US Marines invade Honduras.

1922 - British mandate in Palestine is proclaimed while Arabs declare day of mourning.

1936 - US President Franklin Roosevelt dedicates Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) by pressing a key in Washington to signal the startup of the dam’s first hydroelectric generator in Nevada.

1948 - Henri Queuille becomes Prime Minister of France.

1955 - Thirteen US Air Force men are killed when a B-29 plane crashes in the Pacific between Japan and Formosa.

1973 - Chile’s President Salvador Allende dies in a US-supported military coup.

1979 - Angolan President Agostinho Neto dies in Moscow after an operation.

1985 - Sri Lanka scores their first ever victory in Test cricket when they beat a powerful Indian side by 149 runs.

1998 - Spymaster Yevgeny Primakov becomes Prime Minister of Russia.

2001 - Two hijacked planes slam into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York.

2005 - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s long-ruling party wins a landslide victory in elections for parliament’s Lower House.

2006 - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reaches a deal with Esmail Haniya of Hamas to form a unity government.

2015 - A massive construction crane crashes into Makkah’s Grand Mosque in stormy weather, killing at least 107 people.