NEW YORK — Qatar has said that its request for the New York Times to hand over an audio recording of a phone call involving one of its diplomats discussing Qatari involvement in a recent Somalia attack has been rejected.

Qatar News Agency released a statement from the Qatari government’s communication office saying that it requested the recording to support its investigation around the incident.

Khalifa Kayed Al-Muhanadi, a businessman linked to the Qatari Emir, was recorded telling Qatar’s Ambassador to Somalia Hassan bin Hamza Hashem that an extremist attack in May was carried out to advance Doha’s interests in the country against the UAE, the New York Times revealed in a report on Monday.

“The ambassador and Al-Muhanadi talked about the bombings in Somalia as citizens and not as officials,” a statement from the Qatari government read.

“Khalifa Al-Muhanadi is responsible for his own comments and we will investigate the matter,” the statement added. — Al Arabiya English