A PLAN to build a mosque near the site of New York’s September 11 attacks has won vital backing from the city.

US president Barack Obama yesterday led a moment of silence at the start of eighth anniversary commemorations of the September 11 attacks in 2001 when 3,000 people died in the world’s deadliest terror strike.

On the first anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, dignitaries, community leaders and relatives of victims stood at ground zero and gave voice to the names of the dead. Last year, the children of victims took up that task.

The US, still horrified by the September 11 attacks, will mark the second anniversary tomorrow with moments of silence and bursts of patriotic song, by gathering in peaceful memorial gardens and busy public squares, and by reaching out to each other.