US: 9/11 victims' families file lawsuit against Saudi Arabia

A lawsuit was filed in New York on Monday on behalf of the families of 850 people killed and 1,500 injured in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US. It alleges that Saudi Arabia is partly to blame for the damage caused by the terrorists.

The lawsuit filed with the Southern District of New York in Manhattan alleges that nine Saudi Arabian charities, which served as proxies for the kingdom's government, ran terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and worked with Osama bin Laden, the former of Al-Qaeda leader believed to be the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.

Riyadh also provided direct support to Al-Qaeda members by issuing them passports and providing transportation, the lawsuit alleges.

It also accuses several Saudi officials of working directly with 9/11 hijackers Salem al-Hazmi and Khalid Al-Mihdhar in the US 18 months prior to the attacks.

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