WASHINGTON, May 24: Saudi Arabia has absolved Iran from the bombing of Khobar Tower barracks in the country in June 1996 that killed 19 US soldiers. "The bombing took place at Saudi hands and no foreign party had any role in it," Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdul-Aziz was quoted by Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai Al-Aam as saying.Nayef's statement contradicted longstanding suspicion in United States that the attack was carried out by Shiite Muslim extremists in Saudi Arabia with support from Iran's Islamic government. Those suspicions had been further fuelled by the Saudis by putting blame on the Shiite extremists.
