9/11 attackers may have had Saudi help

Saudi nationals connected to the government in Riyadh may have aided some of the September 11 hijackers in the US before they carried out their attacks, according to a long-classified portion of a congressional inquiry.

"While in the United States, some of the September 11 hijackers were in contact with, and received support or assistance from, individuals who may be connected to the Saudi government," according to the section released by the House Intelligence Committee with some portions blacked out.

But top US intelligence officials who approved releasing the report, as families of some of the 3,000 victims of the attacks have long demanded, emphasised that they didn't consider it accurate or reliable. Saudi officials have long said the 28 pages from the report written in 2002 provide no evidence that the US ally was involved in the attacks, and that conclusion was echoed by the lawmakers who released the document.

The 28 pages do "not put forward vetted conclusions, but rather unverified leads that were later fully investigated by the intelligence committee," Representative Devin Nunes of California, the committee's Republican chairman, said in a statement.