KSA wants to send probe team

Dhaka has welcomed Riyadh's proposal to send a probe team for proper investigation into Tuesday's killing of Saudi Arabian embassy official Khalaf Al-Ali.
“We welcome the offer. Our team and their team of experts will be able to work together, exchange information and help each other,” Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told journalists yesterday at her office.
The main objective is to find out the killers and bring them to justice, she said, adding, “Therefore, they can come.”
Meanwhile, Saudi Ambassador to Dhaka Abdullah Al Bussairy yesterday in a statement reiterated KSA's demand for necessary measures to arrest the people involved in the “heinous crime” and bringing them to book.
“The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has confidence in the capability of the government of Bangladesh in identifying the criminals and announce their identification and motive behind the assassination,” he said.
Dipu Moni said if necessary, international assistance would be sought to investigate the killing, but “we have not asked for it yet”.
Asked whether Bangladesh would seek any international assistance for the probe, Dipu Moni said the investigators were already working on the case and “if at some point they feel the need for any assistance they will ask for it”. Whatever needed to achieve the ultimate goal would be done, she added.
She said the Bangladesh ambassador in Riyadh had already met the high officials of the ministry of foreign affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and appraised the steps taken by the government regarding the investigation.
Besides, Dipu Moni continued, she would herself visit Saudi Arabia on her way back from Hamburg next week and meet the high government officials of KSA to inform them further of Bangladesh government's steps.
The Foreign Minister will visit Germany on March 14 to hear the verdict of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) regarding the delimitation of maritime boundary with Myanmar.
On the panic among the expatriate Bangladeshis in KSA centring the embassy official's murder, she said, “It is an unprecedented incident for Bangladesh, but I see nothing to be worried or panicked about as we have properly appraised the incident to the Saudi authorities concerned and are maintaining constant contact and discussion with them.”
The body of Khalaf Al-Ali was flown to Riyadh by a special flight of Saudi Airlines last night, after a namaz-e-janaza (funeral prayers) at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after the Asr prayer.
After the namaz-e-janaza of Khalaf Al-Ali, the Saudi ambassador told reporters that the incident would have no negative impact on the bilateral relations between the two countries. “The relations will remain as before,” he said.