A MEMORIAL service has been held in Glasgow to mark the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The Church of Scotland-led memorial at Cathcart Old Parish Church saw wreaths laid and the flags of the New York police and fire departments flown.

It was led by Rev Neil Galbraith, with Christians and Muslims involved in readings during the service.

Representatives of the Scottish Ahlul Bayat Society, a faith group which works in the Shia Muslim community, laid a wreath, read from the Koran and lit one of 15 candles.

Police Scotland Deputy Chief Constable Ruaraidh Nicolson and local politicians also laid wreaths.

Galbraith founded an aid charity called Glasgow the Caring City, which sent a disaster relief team to New York in the days after the terrorist attack.

He said about 70 American families have been flown to Glasgow in the last decade for “therapy” holidays organised by the charity.

His church also has a piece of marble and part of a girder from the Twin Towers.

He said: “It is important to mark the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks because the worldwide consequences of that day have been immense.

“It is significant that the Scottish Ahlul Bayat Society are taking an active part in the service as equal partners.

“Their attendance sends out the message that, as a community, we are all in this together.”

He added: “There will never be another memorial service like this because a lot of the people who were involved in 9/11 are getting a lot older and might not be here for the 20th anniversary.

“With the passing of age, we must pass on to the young folks a modern Scotland, a more caring Scotland which has a respect for each other’s faiths and is diverse enough to build bonds which can never be broken.

“And what better time to do it than on the anniversary of the day when the world changed and almost imploded, except for the fact that people of faith, humanity and compassion worked even harder and loved even stronger to ensure it would never happen. There is a bit of New York in all of us.

“That no matter what happens, with faith we can be stronger and united, you can love again.”

The US marked the anniversary with a moment of silence marking the instant when a hijacked plane crashed and the deadliest terror attack on American soil got under way.

At Ground Zero in New York, hundreds of victims’ relatives and dignitaries gathered to hear the reading the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed. An overcast sky shrouded the 1,776ft-tall top of One World Trade Centre, the centrepiece of the rebuilt site.

“It doesn’t get easier. The grief never goes away," said Tom Acquaviva, of Wayne, New Jersey, who lost his son Paul Acquaviva. "You don’t move forward – it always stays with you.”

President Barack Obama spoke at an observance at the Pentagon, telling survivors and victims' families "You remind us there's nothing that Americans can't overcome." Meanwhile, hundreds attended at a ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The 15th anniversary comes at a time when the United States in caught up in a combustible political campaign, but the nation tries to put partisan politics on hold on the anniversary.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump both were at the anniversary ceremony at the World Trade Centre. Neither candidate made any public remarks at a ceremony where politicians have been allowed to attend, but not speak, since 2011. Clinton and Trump also followed a custom of halting television ads for the day.

While Ground Zero and the nation around it are forever marked but greatly changed since 9/11, the anniversary ceremony itself has become a constant.

The were some additional music and readings yesterday to mark the milestone year, but organisers kept close to what are now traditions: moments of silence and tolling bells, an apolitical atmosphere and the hours-long reading of the names of the dead.

The simple, reverential observance may be the norm now, but city officials fielded about 4,500 suggestions – including a Broadway parade honouring rescue workers and a one-minute blackout of all of Manhattan – while planning the first ceremony in 2002.

Financial and other hurdles delayed the redevelopment of the Trade Centre site early on, but it is now home to the 9/11 museum, three of four currently planned skyscrapers, an architecturally adventuresome transportation hub and shopping concourse. A design for a long-stalled performing arts centre was unveiled on Thursday.

Around the Trade Centre, lower Manhattan now has dozens of new hotels and eateries, 60,000 more residents and many more visitors than before 9/11.