Rare images show the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks inside the Pentagon

For many of us it feels like yesterday, but today marks 16 years since the horrifying 9/11 attacks. The attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre, alongside the other planned attacks, not only left 2,996 people dead but marked the beginning of a period of intense political upheaval, which reverberated across the globe for years to come. Then-President George W. Bush announced a "War on Terror"; a metaphorical war, which to this day remains an entrenched aspect of US foreign policy. To mark the anniversary, the US Department of Defence released some rare and never-before-seen images which depict the moments following the attack on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre. Some depict powerful, candid shots of the President at the time, George W. Bush, reeling from the news and scrambling to establish order over the chaos, while others show the devastating aftermath of the incident.

1. A clock frozen at the time of impact was found in the Pentagon 

2. A melted telephone and other miscellaneous items sit upon a desk inside the fifth floor of the Pentagon

3. Then-President George W. Bush talks to his Vice President Dick Cheney about the attack 

4. In one office, only the cabinets were left standing after the attack on the Pentagon 

5. George W. Bush is captured greeting firefighters and police, days after the attack on September 14 2001 

6. The inside of the Pentagon shows the damage caused by the fire 

7. More scenes of destruction in the offices at the Pentagon... 

8. A section of the American Airlines plane's fuselage would found on the lawn outside of the Pentagon 

9. An aerial view of the damage at the Pentagon, two days after the attacks 

10. FBI agents wearing protective clothing are photographed removing evidence from the scene 

11. Then-Vice President Dick Cheney is pictured with then-National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice inside of the President's emergency operations centre 

12. Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell is briefed inside of the President's emergency operations centre 

13. Then-President George W. Bush talking on the phone on September 11th, 2001

14. Then-President Bush speaking with Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice and other miscellaneous advisors

15. George Bush clutches at the hand of his father, former US President George H. W. Bush after speaking at the service for America's National Day of Prayer and Remembrance

These images may now be 16 years old, but the impact of the September 11 attacks will never be forgotten, and the emotions of the people involved still resonate to this day. In related news, here's how 9/11 changed the world sixteen years on...