Saudi Arabia seeks to end U.S. lawsuits over Sept. 11 attacks
NEW YORK - Saudi Arabia on Tuesday asked a US judge to dismiss 25 lawsuits claiming that it helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and should pay damages to victims.
In a filing in US District Court in Manhattan, Saudi Arabia said the plaintiffs cannot show that the kingdom or any affiliated charities were behind the attacks. It also said it deserved sovereign immunity.
The Saudi government has long denied involvement in the attacks, in which airplanes hijacked by al Qaeda crashed into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon outside Washington, and a Pennsylvania field. Nearly 3,000 people died.
Saudi Arabia is being sued for billions of dollars by the families of roughly 2,500 of those killed, more than 20,000 people who suffered injuries, businesses and various insurers.
