US officials say cannot confirm Americans detained in Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON: The US government cannot confirm any American citizens were among 33 suspects detained on terrorism charges in Saudi Arabia this past week, two US officials told Reuters on Sunday.

The English-language daily Saudi Gazette had reported earlier that four Americans were detained on Monday and another five in the following days, along with 14 Saudis, three Yemenis, two Syrians, an Indonesian, a Filipino, a United Arab Emirates citizen, a Palestinian and a citizen of Kazakhstan.

The officials said initial checks did not show that Americans were among those detained.
However, one of the officials said US authorities were still checking names against databases.

Neither official was authorized to speak publicly.