NEW YORK » A 5-foot-tall piece of landing gear believed to be from one of the planes destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks has been discovered wedged between a mosque site and another building near the World Trade Center.

The part includes a clearly visible Boeing identification number, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said today. The twisted, rusted metal part has cables and levers on it and is about 3 feet wide and 1.5 feet deep.

The piece of equipment was discovered Wednesday by surveyors inspecting the lower Manhattan site of a planned Islamic community center, at 51 Park Place, on behalf of the building’s owner, police said. The inspectors called 911, and police secured the scene, documenting it with photos.

The spot where the landing gear was found is about three blocks from ground zero. When plans for the mosque and community center were first announced several years ago, opponents protested that putting a Muslim facility near ground zero showed disrespect. Supporters cited freedom of religion and said it wasn’t too close to where Islamic extremists attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.

The medical examiner’s office will complete a health and safety evaluation to determine whether to sift the soil around the buildings for possible human remains, police said.

Two hijacked planes slammed into the nearby World Trade Center towers in 2001, killing thousands of people.