Two Seconds Under the World: Terror Comes to America -- The Conspiracy Behind the World Trade Center Bombing

On February 26, 1993, a 1200-pound bomb exploded in the garage of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, killing six, injuring over a thousand and causing millions of dollars in damage. The authors, reporters who covered the story for New York Newsday, use interviews with confidential sources, NYPD reports and trial testimony to develop their fast-paced narrative. They describe the assembling of the bomb in a New Jersey warehouse, the explosion itself, the rescue effort and the detective work that led to the arrest of Islamic fundamentalists for perpetrating the first major terrorist act on American soil. The book includes in-depth portraits of the bombers, including Mohammed Saleh, who was captured while trying to recover the deposit on the rental van used in the bombing, and Emad Salem, the FBI informant whose hidden mike picked up incriminating statements by the conspirators. The trial of the four accused, lasting from September 1993 to February 1994-reported here in detail-resulted in guilty verdicts for all. Photos. (Nov.)