New York mourns its missing

Rescuers have searched for another night

Almost 5,000 people remain missing three days after the terror attacks on New York, the city's Mayor, Rudolph Guiliani, has said.

The victims remain buried beneath the wreckage of the World Trade Center, despite continuing searches by rescuers.

Distraught New Yorkers have been carrying photographs of their missing relatives onto the city streets in attempts to trace them.

As time goes on, it doesn't look good for finding survivors

New York fire chief Lawrence Cleary

The manhunt for the mastermind behind the suicide mission has turned into a global operation. In Germany, officials detained a man and said two of the suspected hijackers had lived in Hamburg until earlier this year.

In Washington, Pentagon officials said they now estimated around 190 people died when a plane crashed into the defence building. This figure includes the 64 people on board the airliner.

In other developments:

• The White House declares Friday a national day of prayer and remembrance.
• Nato invokes unprecedented powers to declare itself under attack - but denies reports it is planning a massive strike on Afghanistan.
• The US authorities identify many of the hijackers, and say some were trained as pilots in the US.
• A seven-storey building which linked the twin towers collapses; others remain unstable.
• Congress prepares to vote $20bn in funds for emergency relief.
• More details emerge of a possible passenger fight-back on the plane which crashed in Pennysylvania.
• US airports are to be re-opened on a case by case basis.

Exhausted fire crews were honoured by residents

Exhausted fire crews being driven through the city streets were applauded and cheered by residents who formed an impromptu guard of honour, some waving placards of thanks and support.

But with no flood of injured victims reaching hospital, the worst fears for the missing appear to have been confirmed.

Mr Guiliani warned that the current figure of 4,763 missing may not represent an accurate death toll.

He told a news conference that those listed as missing included the people on board the two planes, the number provided by companies searching for their employees, rescue workers and those reported unaccounted for by telephone callers.

He said 94 bodies had been recovered from the ruins, 46 of which had been identified.

"We also have the gruesome, horrible situation where we recover body parts, and there are 70 people in that category. There are 70 body parts," he said.

"I am sorry I have to describe it that way."

Body bags

One official with the New York Port Authority said earlier that 20,000 could be dead - 10,000 from the towers and another 10,000 from the shopping mall beneath them.

Media reports said the number of body bags ordered by the city has risen from 6,000 to 11,000. Temporary mortuaries have been set up to handle the expected thousands of bodies.

Thousands of workers remain missing

President George W Bush expressed his shock on a visit to the damaged Pentagon in Washington. A stark hole now marks the spot where another hijacked airliner ploughed into the building.

Mr Bush committed the country to a "monumental struggle of good versus evil," while Nato invoked its mutual defence clause for the first time in its history, opening the way for a possible collective military response.

The scale of the US search for those behind the attacks is unprecedented.

The authorities are throwing all their resources at the case - more than 4,000 FBI special agents, with more than 3,000 support staff.

Death toll

All 266 on board the four planes

100-300 at the Pentagon

82 bodies found at the WTC, but thousands thought to remain inside

Nearly 100 Britons confirmed dead

At least 259 rescue workers missing, feared dead

New York orders 11,000 body bags

The FBI has been following up hundreds of leads and conducted searches in different locations across the country.

No arrests have been made, although the FBI says it has identified most of the hijackers and suspected accomplices.

Investigators raided two Boston area hotels thought to have been used by the hijackers.

It's burning inside - it's like Dante's Inferno

New York rescuer Giuseppe Sergi

A car believed to belong to the hijackers was also confiscated in Boston, and officials said it contained an Arabic-language flight manual.

US Attorney General John Ashcroft said he believed some of them had trained as pilots in the US.

The FBI said they believed there had been between three and six hijackers on each of the four hijacked planes.

They had been armed with knives, and in some cases there were bomb threats.

After a meeting with his National Security Council, President Bush described the terror attacks as acts of war.

He said the battle would take time to resolve but the enemy would not be able to hide for ever.

Several hundred firemen and police officers remain among those missing, feared dead.

Many foreigners are also dead, including at least 100 from the UK.

NATO and Russia are united in their resolve not to let those responsible for such an inhuman act go unpunished

Joint Nato-Russian statement

US airspace, closed since the attacks, will be reopened at 1100EDT (1500GMT) on Thursday on a case-by-case basis, officials announced.

US Transport Secretary Norman Mineta said airports would implement much tougher security measures.

Fresh support from the US has come in a rare joint statement by Nato and Russia, pledging increased co-operation to defeat the "scourge" of terrorism.

"The horrific scale of the attacks of 11 September is without precedent in modern history," the statement said.

"Nato and Russia call on the entire international community to unite in the struggle against terrorism."