Powell to Fly Home After 'Great Tragedy'

LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said on Tuesday he would fly home to Washington after aircraft attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon (news - web sites) in Washington.

``A great tragedy has struck our country. It will not affect the nature of our society. We will find out who is responsible for this and bring them to justice,'' Powell, who was in Lima to attend an Organization of American States meeting, told reporters.

``I will be returning to Washington shortly,'' he added. No further details of his travel plans were immediately known but a U.S. official said Powell would make an opening address to the meeting and fly home immediately afterwards.

Planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C.

President Bush (news - web sites) called the deliberate aerial assaults an ''apparent terrorist attack.''

Both of the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center were struck by planes deliberately plowing into them at the start of the workday. Shortly afterwards, a third plane crashed into or near the Pentagon in Washington, throwing people off their feet inside the building and touching off a fire.

The Pentagon, the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court and other key government buildings were evacuated as the nation ground to a virtual halt.

Powell, who was informed of the attacks while holding breakfast talks with Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo during his first South American tour, had been due to fly to Colombia from Lima.

In Buenos Aires, the U.S. embassy had been evacuated, a U.S. official said. H

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