World Trade Center's Silverstein sues al Qaeda and Saudi banks

11.15am

NEW YORK - The man who leased the World Trade Center just months before it was destroyed has sued al Qaeda members, Saudi financial institutions and charities "that allegedly supported the conspiracy" to launch the attacks, Larry Silverstein's spokesman said on Saturday.

The lawsuit is in addition to others filed before a statute-of-limitations deadline three years after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network carried out the attacks in which two hijacked jets rammed into the twin towers. Of the 19 hijackers, 15 were Saudi citizens.

Gerald McKelvey, the developer's spokesman, noted that the suit excludes the government of Saudi Arabia.

McKelvey said Silverstein's suit, a more than 350-page document that names 219 defendants, was filed in federal district court's letter box before midnight Friday.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the World Trade Centre site, said on Friday it was suing Saudi Arabia for unspecified damages. The agency lost 84 workers.

The lawsuit by Silverstein, who lost four employees when the towers fell, did not say how much money the developer wanted.

Cantor Fitzgerald, the bond brokerage that lost more workers than any other employer, is seeking billions of dollars from al Qaeda, Saudi Arabia and dozens of foreign companies in the lawsuit it filed on Sept. 3.

- REUTERS