WASHINGTON, Aug 11: Suspected Al Qaeda fighters on the run from Afghanistan and seeking refuge in neighbouring Iran have been arrested and handed over to Saudi Arabia, according to a report published on Sunday.

The Washington Post reported that the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said in an interview that 16 Al Qaeda members were expelled to Saudi Arabia by Iranian authorities.

Iran was aware that whatever information the terrorist suspects revealed to Saudi interrogators would be passed along to the United States, he said.

While Osama bin Laden and some of his followers are Saudi, he said his government wanted to see them prosecuted.

“We asked (the Iranians) to hand them over and they did,” the prince told the Post during the interview at his residence in Jeddah.—APP