Saudis who killed Jamal Khashoggi 'were trained in the US'

Four Saudis who participated in the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi received paramilitary training in the US the previous year under a contract approved by the State Department, it has been reported.

Mr Khashoggi, a Saudi-born US resident and fierce critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed and dismembered by a team of operatives in the Kingdom's consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

A US intelligence report concluded that seven members of the kill team belonged to an elite unit responsible for protecting the Crown Prince.

Four of the kill team received high-level training in 2017 by Tier 1 Group, an Arkansas-based security company, according to documents seen by The New York Times.

Two of the operatives also received Tier 1 Group training from 2014 to 2015.

Tier 1 is owned by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management and provides training including “safe marksmanship” and “countering an attack”.

The company said the training was defensive in nature and devised to better protect Saudi leaders, according to the New York Times.

However, the news has raised questions over the US State Department's decision to allow American private military contractors to provide high-level training to Saudi Arabian clients.

Tim Kaine, a Democratic senator, called for stronger State Department oversight of defence services provided to foreign nations, “especially ones with problematic human rights records like Saudi Arabia, to ensure something like this never happens again”.

The State Department, which vets foreign forces before they are allowed to train on US soil, said it could not comment on the report.

The department's spokesman, Ned Price, said the Biden administration “insists on responsible use” of American military equipment and training, but added “we are committed to working together to help Riyadh strengthen its defenses.”

Tier 1's training of the Saudi operatives was confirmed by Louis Bremer, a senior executive of Cerberus, when he was nominated and screened for a role in the Pentagon during the Trump administration.

Mr Bremer outlined his company's role in the training in response to questions from Congress, but his nomination was withdrawn by the Trump administration and lawmakers never received the answers.

Mr Bremer provided the same document to the New York Times and made clear that the training provided to the Saudi operatives “was unrelated to their subsequent heinous acts”.

“T1G management, the board and I stand firmly with the US government, the American people and the international community in condemning the horrific murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” he said.

He added that Tier 1 has not provided any further training to Saudis since December 2017.