NEW YORK, Sept 11: The United States marked six years since the Sept 11 attacks on Tuesday with solemn ceremonies but still haunted by Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who used the anniversary to praise the hijackers.

In an overcast New York, families of the 2,749 people killed when two planes plowed into the World Trade Centre paid their respects near the site as rescue workers read the names of the dead, in what has now become an annual ritual.

With heads bowed, holding photographs of the dead and fighting to hold back the tears, relatives listened as the grim roll call was read out to the haunting strains of a solo cello, flute and guitar.

“We come together again as New Yorkers and as Americans to share a loss that can’t be measured and to remember the names of those who can’t be replaced,” said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, introducing the commemorations.

The day of the attacks six years ago was “a day that tore across our history and our hearts,” he said.

“We love you and we miss you,” said one woman, mourning the loss of her brother. “You’re still the best, Salvatore,” added another, paying tribute to his fallen firefighter brother.

The ceremony was more muted than in past years. Last year, President George Bush visited New York to lay a wreath at the site, but this year attended a private service and observed a moment of silence in Washington.

For the first time, most of the commemorations in New York were being held at a park near Ground Zero, the area where the Twin Towers once stood, and not on the site where a memorial and other new buildings are being constructed.

The reading of the names was to pause for four moments of silence to mark the exact times that the planes hit the towers and when the massive buildings collapsed into piles of rubble and dust.

—AFP