The agency that owned the World Trade Center last night said it will file a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia for damages it suffered on September 11th, 2001, noting 84 of its employees were killed in the air attacks that toppled the twin towers.
"We also have a responsibility to the millions of people who live and work in the region as well as to our bondholders to pursue every legal avenue to recover the losses we sustained on September 11th," the Port Authority said in a statement.
Mr Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, declined to say why the agency sought to hold Saudi Arabia responsible or whether it would also sue other entities.
The Port Authority, a bi-state agency which leased New York's trademark twin towers in July 2001 to developer Mr Larry Silverstein, noted it was filing the lawsuit just one day before the three-year statute of limitations runs out.
"Our proposed action is in line with similar suits filed by other injured parties," the Port Authority said. Its statement did not say how much money it was seeking.
A spokesman for Silverstein declined to comment. Officials at the Saudi Embassy in Washington were not immediately available for comment.
The agency, which said the lawsuit was being filed in federal district court in Manhattan yesterday, is following similar moves by other organizations, including Cantor Fitzgerald, the bond brokerage that lost the biggest number of workers in the attacks.
Cantor Fitzgerald last week sued both Saudi Arabia and al Qaeda in New York federal court, charging that the Saudis aided al Qaeda, which is led by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.
The al Qaeda network has been blamed for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C. that killed about 3,000 people. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.