Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 19 (IANS) Saudi Arabia has never knowingly or unknowingly funded extremists, a veteran Saudi journalist said Wednesday.

Saudi Gazette newspaper’s chief editor Khaled Al Maeena said the radical Islamic State — earlier ISIS — was not a creation of Saudi Arabia and that it sprang up suddenly out of nowhere.

Maeena was speaking here on “Gulf States and West Asia relations to India”.

“The Saudi government has never knowingly or unknowingly funded extremists,” he said.

He stressed the need for more cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Kerala.

He also called for tough laws to prevent pollution in tourist resorts like Kumarakom in Kerala.