Doug Stanglin

USA TODAY

More than a dozen FBI images of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon are available again after an apparent glitch left them inaccessible on a FBI website for several months.

The EPA photo agency had distributed the photos Friday and described them as "previously unpublished."

The FBI said Friday that the images were in fact available from September 2001 at the FBI website "FBI Records: The Vault" until around December 2016, when links to the photos apparently developed a glitch.

When it learned of the problem, the FBI resolved the issue to make the photos available again under the heading "9/11 Attacks and Investigation Images," according to the FBI.

The photos show firefighters battling a huge fireball, on-scene FBI investigators, whose faces were blacked out for security reasons, and mangled debris and charred ruins.

American Airlines Flight 77, commandeered by al-Qaeda terrorists, slammed into the side of the building, killing 184 people, including 59 passengers and crew and the five hijackers. link to the images. "(A)fter verifying there was an issue, the appropriate steps were taken to resolve the issue and make the images available again," the FBI said.