The four men, who were part of a Saudi kill team that murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, received paramilitary training in the United States, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. The report said that the training was given under a contract approved by the US state department.
The training included “safe marksmanship” and “countering an attack”, according to the NYT report, which quoted the company to say that it was devised to better protect Saudi leaders.
The news report further points out that the American officials who approved the training knew the Saudis were involved in the crackdown.
Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi regime, was killed and dismembered by a team of operatives linked to Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.