US Congress is expected to release 28 pages of classified information that contains information about alleged ties between the Saudi government and the September 11 terror attacks.

The 28 pages, which have been kept secret since the 2002 congressional investigation into the attacks that killed nearly 3,000, could be released as early as Friday, CNN reports.

The top secret documents are said to contain information about "specific sources of foreign support for some of the September 11 hijackers”.

President Barack Obama announced in April that the pages would be declassified during his administration. Nationall Intelligence director James Clapper had originally aimed for a mid-June release.

Former Democratic senator Bob Graham, who chaired the commission, first received word from a source close to the Obama administration for the summer release back in April.



“I hope that decision is to honour the American people and make it available,” Mr Graham told NBC. “The most important unanswered question of 9/11 is, did these 19 people conduct this very sophisticated plot alone, or were they supported?”

In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush was visiting Emma E Brooker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida as news of the attack on the World Trade Center broke In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 The president and his staff, including Press Secretary Ari Fleischer (L) were then brought to a holding room at the school, where he prepared to address the nation In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush was then rushed onto Air Force One and was flown to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. He watched television coverage of the attacks from his office on the plane In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush talks on the telephone at the General Dougherty Conference Center at Barksdale Air Force Base In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush is seen with his senior adviser Karl Rove at Barksdale Air Force Base In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 The president with White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card at Barksdale Air Force Base. Before leaving the base, the president held a press conference at which he said, “Make no mistake: The United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts” In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 The president was consoled by Lt Col Cindy Wright of the White House Military Office aboard Air Force One. After leaving Louisiana, the president was flown to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska before he headed back to Washington In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush arrived at the White House Presidential Emergency Operations Center around 7 pm. Here he is shown with his wife, First Lady Laura Bush, Vice President Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 At 8:30 pm, the president addressed the nation from the White House. In his speech, he set the tone for the wars to come in Afghanistan and Iraq In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 “I’ve directed the full resources for our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and bring them to justice,” the president said. “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour them” In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 The president’s speech on the teleprompter In pictures: President Bush’s immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 Immediately following the speech, the president had a national security meeting with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and others

However, Mr Graham told CNN that administration officials stopped returning his calls when the mid-June date approached.

“I was told onn 12 April that the decision as to whether to release the pages would be made before 12 June,” he explained to CNN. “Well, we're now well beyond that date and no decision as to whether a decision is going to made has been released.”

But CNN reports that State Department officials have reviewed the 28 pages and plan to release them with "minimal redactions".

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According to Tim Roemer, who took part in both the bipartisan Congression inquiry and the 9/11 Commission, described the 28 pages as a "preliminary police report".

“There were clues. There were allegations. There were witness reports. There was evidence about the hijackers, about people they met with – all kinds of different things that the 9/11 Commission was then tasked with reviewing and investigating,” Mr Roemer, a former Democratic congressman, told the Associated Press.

Pressure mounted on the Obama administration to declassify the documents, as both Democratic and Republican members of Congress said they would pass legislation to compel the release of the documents if the President does not.

“If the Obama administration does not move forward then we need to pass [the legislation] to have the House Intelligence Committee publish the pages,” Massachusetts Rep Stephen Lynch said last week, according to CNN.