JEDDAH, July 25: The Saudi government has denied a news report that an Al Qaeda suspect offered to surrender himself through its consulate in Karachi. Saudi ambassador to Pakistan Ali Awad al-Asseri told APP that the exclusive report published in a Saudi daily Okaz had been investigated and found incorrect.

"No person with the name mentioned has called the Saudi embassy in Islamabad or the Saudi Consulate in Karachi with such a request," he added. The Saudi ambassador to Pakistan is in Jeddah on the occasion of Prime Minister Shujaat Hussain's visit to Saudi Arabia.

The report, which was carried by wire services, claimed that Khalid al Asseri, a suspect wanted by the Saudi authorities, had offered to surrender under the royal decree of amnesty announced by King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz on June 3, 2004, for one month.

He said the details given in the news report were sketchy and could not be verified. As soon as any thing was confirmed, he said, it would be made available to media.

The Saudi paper claimed that Sheikh Safar al-Hawali, a renowned religious scholar and former dean of the Dawah Faculty of Ummul Qura University Makkah Al Mukarammah was mediating in the reported surrender. -APP