The 9/11 memorial is seen at the World Trade Center site in New York May 4, 2011. US President Barack Obama is to speak at New York's 'Ground Zero' and meet families of some of the victims of the Sept 11 attacks by Al Qaeda in 2001. [Photo/Agencies]

NEW YORK - President Barack Obama will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at Ground Zero and meet with Sept 11 families and first responders when he visits Thursday.

The White House provided the new details on the trip in a statement Wednesday.

Following the killing of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks, Obama plans to mark the occasion by visiting the most famous site of bin Laden's destruction, where the World Trade Center once stood.

The president invited former President George W. Bush to accompany him, but Bush declined.

The White House says Obama's trip will include a private meeting with family members of Sept 11 victims, a meeting with first responders that will be open to some news coverage, and a wreath-laying at the memorial.