Families gather at Ground Zero to remember victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing days after blind sheikh who plotted the attack dies behind bars

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A memorial service was held in lower Manhattan on Sunday afternoon to commemorate victims on the 24th anniversary of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, days after one of the terrorists died in prison. 

NYPD officers, friends, and families paid tribute and observed a moment of silence at Ground Zero at 12.18pm, the time the fatal attack took place nearly a quarter-century ago. 

Six people were killed and 1,042 were injured on the afternoon of February 26, 1993 when a truck exploded beneath the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Egyptian cleric and blind sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was sentenced to life in prison for plotting the attack, died last week.

Memorial service: Port Authority Police officers salute during a commemoration ceremony of the 24th anniversary of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing at the north reflecting pool of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center site

An attendee lays a flower in commemoration of the six killed and 1,042 who were left injured in the attacks 

An man places a rose at the North Pool during the ceremony. Six men were sentenced to life in prison for the attacks 

The terror attack was carried out by seven Islamist extremists and was intended to bring down both towers, but failed to do so. The bombing was considered the worst terrorist attack in the US, but was overshadowed by the 9/11 attack, eight years later. 

Ramzi Yousef, Nidal Ayyad, Mohammed Salameh, and Abdul Yasin, Ahmed Ajaj, and Eyad Ismoi were convicted in the bombing. Yasin was the only terrorist to avoid life in prison.

On the fatal Friday, Salameh rented a Ryder van to deliver the bomb which was made by Ayyad. Yousef was the mastermind working under Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. 

The men drove though the parking garage under the World Trade Center around noon where Yousef ignited the 20ft fuse. The bomb exploded 12 minutes later. 

The explosion created a nearly 100ft wide hole through the concrete and sent thick smoke up to the 93rd floor of both towers. 

Six of the seven men were convicted and are serving life sentences. Yasin fled to Iraq the day after he was released and currently remains on the FBI's most wanted list. 

In 2012, Ramzi filed a lawsuit to end his solitary confinement. During his 1998 sentencing, the man proclaimed he was a proud terrorist. 

Abdel-Rahman, 78, died of natural causes on February 18, at the Federal Medical Center, Butner, part of a federal prison compound in Butner, North Carolina. 

He also plotted attacks on other landmarks in New York City, including the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, the United Nations headquarters and the George Washington Bridge. 

The cleric, who had diabetes and coronary artery disease, had been incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Complex, Butner, for nearly 10 years.  

Blind sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was sentenced to life in prison for plotting the attack, died behind bars last week

World Trade Center Bomb 1993: Police and office workers flee after the blast. An underground explosion rocked the twin towers causing the ceiling of a train station to collapse and setting off fires below the landmark building

Poignant: Family members of the victims hold roses during the ceremony to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing

Families of the victims laid roses on the North Pool of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center site. 

John DiGiovanni, 45, Robert Kirkpatrick, 61, Stephen Knapp, 47, Bill Macko, 57, Wilfredo Mercado, 37, Monica Rodriguez Smith, 36, were killed in the bombing. Smith was seven months pregnant at the time. 

Nicole Rossilli, 12, attended the ceremony to pay tribute to her late grandfather, Stephen Knapp, who she never met. Knapp was 47 at the time of his death. 

The Staten Island girl and her family travel to Ground Zero every year on the anniversary of the attack to commemorate his life, Newsday reported. Rossilli vowed to visit every year for the rest of her life. 

Marileen Brown, a former Port Authority employee, and survivor of both the bombing and 9/11 attacks, attended the memorial service for the 1993 incident for the first time. Brown told the paper it took nearly ten years for her to return to the World Trade Center site after surviving the attacks.  

A family member speaks during the commemoration ceremony. One salesman, three maintenance supervisors, a receiving agent, a secretary were killed in the attack

Roses lay on the north reflecting pool of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center site following a commemoration ceremony of the 24th anniversary

Bagpipers representing various agencies perform during the emotional ceremony 

A survivor lays a flower during a commemoration ceremony which killed six: John DiGiovanni, 45, Robert Kirkpatrick, 61, Stephen Knapp, 47, Bill Macko, 57, Wilfredo Mercado, 37, Monica Rodriguez Smith, 36

Brian Rolford is pictured in 1993 outside the World Trade Center after walking down from the 105th floor after a bomb exploded in a parking garage below the complex

The attack was considered one of the worst terrorist attack before it was overshadowed by the 9/11 attack