Fridae

The leader of the world's Metropolitan Community Churches, a global Christian denomination with outreach to gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered persons, is calling on GLBT people around the world to pray for victims of what has become the worst terrorist attack in history.

The 110-story twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City collapsed after two hijacked passenger jets crashed into them at about 8:50 am Eastern Time while another passenger plane struck the Pentagon in Washington DC, leaving a gaping gash in the US? military hub, killing all on board the plane and more on the ground.

Within an hour, a fourth airliner believed to be targeting the presidential jet, Air Force One went down in western Pennsylvania.

The Rev. Elder Troy D. Perry, Founder of the Universal Fellowship Of Metropolitan Community Churches in Los Angeles, issued a statement saying: ?I am asking the friends and members of Metropolitan Community Churches, and all people of faith and goodwill, to join me in offering prayers for those injured in this terrible attack, and for the families of all who lost their lives in this incident.?

Almost 300 emergency personnel including police officers and fire-fighters who are missing are presumed dead along with the 266 people on four hijacked airplanes that crashed in terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. The death toll could reach into the tens of thousands and may take weeks to establish.

While at present no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, suspicions have centered on a relentless US foe -- exiled Saudi Osama bin Laden who is being sheltered in Afghanistan. Bin Laden is believed to have masterminded the bombings of the World Trade Centre in 1993 that killed six people and injured more than 1,000as well as two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998.

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A Pakistani newspaper has however reported that bin Laden had issued a denial of responsibility for the attacks.

Authorities in Massachusetts have identified five Arab men as suspects and have seized a rental car containing Arabic-language flight training manuals at Logan International Airport, reports The Boston Herald.

In response to the attacks, the authorities has grounded all US air traffic for the first time in history and will remain in effect until at least noon Eastern Time Wednesday while all major US financial markets were closed and will remain closed Wednesday.

Asian financial markets opened on Wednesday in chaos, with Tokyo stocks sliding to 17-year lows. While several Asian financial markets delayed their openings, the Malaysian and Taiwanese stock exchanges suspended trading altogether. Hong Kong share prices plunged to below the 10,000 level for the first time in two and a half years while share prices in Singapore plummeted since the start of trading.

Governments around the world have condemned the attacks and offered condolences to the Americans.

President George Bush has called the deliberate aerial assaults an "apparent terrorist attack," and promised to hunt down and punish those responsible for the attacks as well as "those who harbour them".