FBI declassifies documents associated with 9/11 attacks

Washington: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Saturday declassified several documents associated with the investigation of the horrific 9/11 attacks on the US.

The documents also carry information related to the suspected Saudi government support to the attacks. The documents were released following an executive order by President Joe Biden, CNN reported. The newly declassified documents are from 2016 and provide details of the FBI’s work to investigate the alleged logistical support that a Saudi consular official and a suspected Saudi intelligence agent in Los Angeles provided to at least two of the men who hijacked planes on September 11, 2001.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Saudi embassy in Washington expressed acceptance to the release of the FBI documents and also said that “any allegation that Saudi Arabia is complicit in the September 11 attacks is categorically false”.

Biden’s executive order came after more than 1,600 people affected by the attacks sent Biden a letter asking him to refrain from going to Ground Zero in New York City to mark the 20th anniversary unless he release the information, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, the US President on Saturday also commemorated the lives of 2,977 people who lost their lives 20 years ago in the horrific tragedy.

“To the families of 2,977 people from more than 90 nations killed on September 11, 2001, in New York City, Arlington, Virginia and Shanksville, Pennsylvania and a thousand more who were injured. America commemorates you and your loved ones,” Biden said in a video message posted on the Twitter account of the US President.

On September 11, 2001, the United States faced the deadliest terrorist attack in its history. More than 3,000 people were killed in the terror attacks. In a span of just 102 minutes, both towers of New York’s World Trade Center collapsed after planes hijacked by Al Qaeda operatives crashed into them.