Saturday, 23 November, 2002, 17:40 GMT

Tracing al-Qaeda's funding has proved difficult

The US authorities are investigating a possible financial link between the government of Saudi Arabia and some of the hijackers who carried out the 11 September attacks last year, according to American media reports.

The investigation is focusing on money from a Saudi bank account to two of the hijackers - Khalid al-Mihdar and Nawaf al-Hazmi - who were living in California in the year before the attacks.

American officials caution there is no proof of involvement by the Saudi government - which says it is co-operating fully with US investigators, the reports say.

Relations between the US and Saudi Arabia have cooled since last year's attacks.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens, and many Americans commentators have accused the Saudis of funding Muslim militant groups.

According to Newsweek magazine, the FBI is investigating whether the Riyadh government used the bank account of the wife of the Saudi ambassador in Washington to send tens of thousands of dollars to two Saudi students in San Diego in 2000 and 2001.

At one point, the paper says, the students befriended al-Mihdar and al-Hazmi - who were then staying in southern California - and helped pay their rent.

Hot pursuit?

The New York Times says a draft report by a congressional committee has concluded that the FBI and the CIA have not pursued aggressively enough leads that might link the hijackers to Saudi Arabia.

The two agencies have disagreed with the draft findings, saying they have been investigating all relevant information, the paper says.

The New York Times quotes a reply by the FBI to the committee, arguing that it was common for Saudis in the United States to receive financial support from their government.

The FBI also says an inquiry into the two students - who have since left the country - failed to produce evidence that they had links to the attacks, according to the paper.

There has been tension in the past between intelligence agencies and the congressional committee investigating the attacks.

A number of interim reports released in recent months have highlighted apparent intelligence failures.

Dilemma

The committee¿s draft report also says the Saudi Government has not fully co-operated with American investigators, according to the New York Times.

In October, the Council on Foreign Relations - a New York-based think-tank - accused Saudi Arabia of turning a blind eye to fundraising for the al-Qaeda network.

A report by the council urged the US to confront Riyadh over the issue of funding from individuals and charities within Saudi Arabia.

Saudi officials, however, say they have assisted in important aspects of the investigation into the 11 September attacks - for instance by confirming the identities of most of the hijackers.

Observers say the dilemma for the Saudi authorities is that clamping down on Islamic charities as hard as the Americans would like, would mean confronting Saudi Arabia's conservative religious establishment.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2002