Terrorist Attack Update

The Associated Press

Away from the Pentagon, unexplained explosions were reported in the vicinity of the State Department and the Capitol. Agents with automatic weapons patrolled the White House grounds.

The departments of Justice, State, Treasury and Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency were evacuated - an estimated 20,000 at the Pentagon alone.

One lawmaker said the congressional leadership had been hustled away to safety.

And the FAA ordered the entire nationwide air traffic system shut down.

A torrent of people rushed from their office buildings throughout the nation's capital, eager to leave a city under siege. The cell phone networks were overloaded, clusters of people sprayed on the sidewalks and at least one suburban school district announced plans to close early.

The Pentagon was hit a short while after the World Trade Center was struck.

Paul Begala, a Democratic consultant, said he witnessed an explosion near the Pentagon, saying it sent a huge, orange fireball skyward.

AP reporter Dave Winslow also saw the crash. He said, "I saw the tail of a large airliner. ... It plowed right into the Pentagon."

Gen. Richard Myers, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that prior to the crash into the Pentagon, military officials had been notified that another hijacked plane had been heading from the New York area to Washington. He said he assumed that hijacked plane was the one that hit the Pentagon, though he couldn't be sure.

One of two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center was hijacked after takeoff from Boston, a U.S. official said, citing a transmission from the plane.

The second plane may have flown out of Newark, N.J., the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Asked if there was any possibility the crashes were anything other than deliberate, the official said it appeared not to be an accident, the official said.