Among the buildings the group planned to attack was the World Trade Centre in New York. As the FBI reopen these files, we question whether the 1995 plot was a blueprint for the events of September 11and, if so, why it was tragically ignored. Police uncovered the plot when one of the men accidentally set fire to his apartment while preparing the bombs. The mastermind was Islamic zealot Ramzi Yousef, since linked directly to Osama bin Laden. Besides the plot to kill the Pope, Operation Bojinka had American targets. “Eleven planes from Asia going to the US were set to explode in US airspace. And the idea was to terrorise the airline industry in the US so it would shut down,” remembers Roberto Tiglao, Presidential Spokesman. “One plot was to get a plane in the US and ram it into CIA headquarters, and there’s some information too that they were intending to run it into bigger, taller buildings,” adds the Immigration Commissioner. As the West embarks on its war against Islamic terror, this piece reminds us that, were it not for an accidental fire in a seedy Manila apartment block, this could have been started by extremists six years ago. The fact that they’ve now succeeded reveals a commitment that won’t easily be deterred.

Produced by ABC Australia