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LITTLE-KNOWN photographs of the 9/11 terror attacks are available to view on Google Earth.

The satellite snaps show the aftermath of the deadly assaults on the North and South towers of the World Trad Centre complex in New York City.

Smoke billows from the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, in a satellite image available on Google Earth
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Smoke billows from the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, in a satellite image available on Google EarthCredit: Google Earth
As recently as last year, Google Earth featured close-up shots of the skyscrapers but they have since been removed from the digital mapping service
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As recently as last year, Google Earth featured close-up shots of the skyscrapers but they have since been removed from the digital mapping serviceCredit: Google Earth
Aerial images of damage to the Pentagon building in Virginia were also once available on Google's digital mapping service. However, they have since been removed
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Aerial images of damage to the Pentagon building in Virginia were also once available on Google's digital mapping service. However, they have since been removedCredit: Google Earth

Smoke can be seen billowing from the structures after they were hit by two commercial airliners on September 11, 2001.

Aerial images of damage to the Pentagon building in Virginia were also once available on Google's digital mapping service.

However, they have since been removed by the US search giant.

It comes just weeks ahead of the 20th anniversary of the attacks that took the lives of almost 3,000 people.

The archive snaps were spotted by an eagle-eyed Google Earth user, who shared their discovery to Reddit.

"Apparently google earth has satellite data from New York on September 11th, 2001," they wrote last year.

The eerie snaps are available through Google Earth's time travel feature.

The software – a three-dimensional map made using satellite images and topographical data – has historical photographs stretching back decades.

You can see them yourself by downloading Google Earth for free and searching for a location.

Once there, click "view historical imagery" or, above the 3D viewer, click "Time". The feature is not available in the browser version of Google Earth.

Thousands were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania.

On September 11, 2001, a group of al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four airliners.

Two planes - American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 75 - crashed into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center.

Later, a third plane then hit the Pentagon in Virginia, causing the partial collapse of the building's west wing.

A fourth plane crashed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as passengers fought with the hijackers on the flight.

Of the 2,996 who died on 9/11, including the 19 hijackers, 2,606 were killed at the World Trade Center and the surrounding area.

Here's what Lower Manhattan looks like on the digital mapping service today
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Here's what Lower Manhattan looks like on the digital mapping service todayCredit: Google Earth
Thousands were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania
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Thousands were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York, Washington, DC and PennsylvaniaCredit: Getty

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