US releases 9/11 video of Pentagon jet crash

In this image taken from a Pentagon security camera video released yesterday, an explosion is shown moments after American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 in Washington. Two security cameras at a Pentagon parking lot caught the moment that American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the south west side of the military headquarters. PHOTO: AFP

The video, released by the government in conjunction with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the Judicial Watch legal activist group, was a longer, more complete version of still-frame images that were leaked to the news media in 2002.

The front of the hijacked Boeing 757 can be seen entering one video frame, with a massive explosion and orange fireball erupting upon impact with the Pentagon, followed by a plume of smoke.

US authorities have said five al-Qaeda hijackers seized control of American Airlines Flight 77, a flight from Washington Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia bound for Los Angeles, and flew it into the Pentagon.