WASHINGTON – A U.S. Defense Department video shows a fireball and a cloud of black smoke as an American Airlines jet hijacked by Al Qaeda terrorists crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

The 6.5 minute video from parking lot surveillance cameras shows the explosion from two perspectives after Flight 77 hit the building. The video, a series of still photos taken every couple of seconds, shows a white object entering from the right at about ground level just before the explosion. The plane isn’t clearly visible.

The Defense Department released the video to the public today in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Judicial Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based public interest group.

“We felt it was very important to complete the public record with respect to the terrorist attacks of September 11,” the president of Judicial Watch,Tom Fitton, said in a statement. “We hope that this video will put to rest the conspiracy theories involving American Airlines Flight 77.”

Web sites such as 911truth.org and Prisonplanet.com have promoted theories including attacks carried out by government agents or a bomb or missile being responsible for the damage to the Pentagon.

The Defense Department delayed release of the video while the trial of September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was under way. The video was shown at the trial as the prosecution sought to list the effects of the attacks of September 11, 2001, and Moussaoui’s role in it. Moussaoui, 37, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in last year and was sentenced on May 4 to life in prison.

Jacqueline MaGuire, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, testified that Flight 77, a Boeing 757 aircraft loaded with 36,200 pounds of jet fuel, hit the Pentagon at about 530 miles an hour, according to the flight data recorder. The cockpit voice recorder was also recovered but was too damaged to provide any information, Ms. MaGuire said.

The crash killed 125 in the Pentagon, plus 53 passengers on Flight 77, six crewmembers and five hijackers.