Saudis meet Bush for 9/11 talks

Saudi Arabia angrily dismissed allegations of involvement

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal is in Washington for talks with President George W Bush about a controversial US report that linked Saudi Arabia to the 11 September attacks.

The 900-page congressional report released last week suggested that people connected to the Saudi Government might have given financial support to the hijackers.

Details of Saudi Arabia's role was included in a classified 28-page section which was blanked out.

Riyadh has angrily dismissed the allegations, especially at a time when it is conducting a crackdown on militants.

The Saudis have been keen to show their commitment to fighting terror since 2 May - when suicide bombings in Riyadh left 34 people dead.

The latest operation resulted in the death of six suspected Muslim extremists and two policemen on Monday.

In an interview with the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Tuesday, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said most of the suspects had received their military training in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.

He said a small number may have been trained on small farms in Saudi Arabia but vowed to continue their pursuit of militants.

"We will eliminate (militants) without mercy from our country to protect our citizens and defend the kingdom and its higher interests," he said.

In a separate interview with the al-Hayat newspaper, the minister also said: "We cooperate with all Arab and non-Arab states because terrorism has no nationality and the fight against terrorism necessitates the cooperation of everyone."

Sensitivity

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers involved in the 11 September attacks were Saudis, as is the leader of the al-Qaeda network, Osama Bin Laden.

The Washington Post reports that US officials say information in the report has remained classified for a number reasons, including:

• the sensitivity of the foreign government

• the likelihood of revealing sources and methods used to gather the information

• the fact that there may be ongoing criminal investigations.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is expected to review any request from the Saudi Government for any of the pages to be declassified.

After the report was released last week, the Saudi Ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, said that the blanked-out pages were "being used by some to malign our country and our people".

"Saudi Arabia has nothing to hide. We can deal with questions in public, but we cannot respond to blank pages," he said.

There have also been calls from several US senators for the censored pages to be declassified.

Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Democratic Senator Bob Graham said releasing the report would "allow the American people to make their own judgment about who are our true friends and allies in the war on terrorism".