US President George W. Bush warned in a live radio address on Saturday morning that the war on terror still goes on three years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

"The war on terror goes on. The resolve of our nation is still being tested," he said in the address at the White House to mark the third anniversary of the attacks in 2001, which killed some 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

In Sept. 11, 2001, the United States lost more citizens during a space of 102 minutes than were lost in the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II, he said. "We remember the images of fire, and the final calls of love, and the courage of rescuers who saw death and did not flee."

"Time has passed, but the memories do not fade," Bush said.

Bush said the attacks were a "turning point" for the country. The United States is determined to guard its homeland against future attacks, the country is "safer than we were three years ago, but we are not yet safe," he said.

Bush applauded the courage of families of the Sept. 11 victims and of the troops fighting in the war on terror that he launched in response to the attacks.

He pledged that the United States would stay on the offensive and to pursue the terrorists by conducting the anti-terror campaign from Afghanistan to the Middle East, to the Horn of Africa, to the Philippines, and to hidden cells in the United States.

Bush noted that in the war on terror, more than three-quarters of al-Qaeda's key members and associates have been detained or killed, but "there is still a danger to America."

"We will not relent until the terrorists who plot murder against our people are found and dealt with," Bush said.

Relatives of victims of the attacks, firefighters and other emergency responders were present at the White House when Bush made the address.

Earlier Saturday, Bush attended a prayer service at St. Johns Episcopal Church near the White House and presided over a moment of silence at the White House.

On Friday, Bush signed proclamations designating Sept. 10, 11 and 12 as National Days of Prayer and Remembrance, and Sept. 11 as Patriot Day.

In Boston, Massachusetts, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry marked the anniversary by visiting a memorial to Massachusetts victims and attending a Sept. 11 memorial service.

Source: Xinhua