RIYADH, Sept 26: Saudi Arabia on Tuesday denied reports of ‘ice-breaking’ secret contacts between Tel Aviv and Riyadh.

Official Saudi news agency SPA quoted a foreign ministry source as saying that there was ‘absolutely no truth’ to Israeli and Qatari media reports about contacts between Saudi and Israeli officials.

The Saudi official termed the reports ‘fabricated and baseless’, and said that the kingdom did not practise certain policies ‘publicly and others secretly’.

The official, however, did not rule out continuation of such media reports that were ‘far away from truth and served only the interests of their propagators’.

Confusion has persisted over the reported meeting between senior officials of the two sides despite denials.

The Israeli denial has only been to the effect that the Israeli prime minister has not met King Abdullah. The Israeli daily Haaretz said yesterday that the meeting took place on Sept 13 while the Israel’s Army Radio claimed that it took place in a ‘palace’ in Riyadh.