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AP FACT CHECK: Fire, not demolition, brought down WTC towers

Posted at 4:29 PM, Jun 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-13 16:29:06-04

NEW YORK (AP) -- The twin towers and another skyscraper at the World Trade Center were destroyed in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, because fires that started from planes crashing into the buildings weakened their structural integrity, despite internet stories that insist they came down from controlled demolitions.

An article on the website antinews.in claims "a new forensic investigation" into the collapse published by Europhysics News "lends to a growing body of evidence that seriously questions the veracity of the government narrative."

But the piece cited by antinews isn't a new forensic investigation. It's from a feature published in the July/August 2016 issue of the magazine, written by authors who are vocal Sept. 11 conspiracy theorists. The editors of Europhysics News included a note with the story acknowledging that "it contains some speculation" and that "the content of this article is the responsibility of the authors."

Those who have shared conspiracy theories for years of controlled demolition insist that fires from the crashed planes couldn't have caused the damage that led to the collapse of the towers and the third building, 7 World Trade Center, where debris landed and burned.

But The National Institute of Standards and Technology, a government agency, found the fires were intense and widespread enough to cause the buildings' collapse. It stands behind those findings.

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This story is part of an ongoing Associated Press effort to fact-check claims in suspected false news stories.