The FBI has launched an investigation into allegations that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp tried to hack the mobile phones of September 11 victims, it has been disclosed.

Several powerful congressmen had demanded an inquiry into the claims, which had sparked a furious response from the families of those who lost their lives in the atrocity.

The FBI inquiry follows the intervention of Peter King, a New York congressman, who wrote directly to the Bureau demanding an inquiry into the 9/11 claims. Reports had suggested that the News of the World attempted to buy the phone records of victims of the 2001 bombings....