Libya plotted Saudi prince146;s assassination

While Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi was renouncing terror and negotiating the lifting of sanctions last year, his intelligence chiefs o...

While Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi was renouncing terror and negotiating the lifting of sanctions last year, his intelligence chiefs ordered a covert operation to assassinate the Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, according to statements by two participants in the alleged conspiracy. Those participants, Abdurahman Alamoudi, a US Muslim leader now in jail in Virginia, and Col. Mohamed Ismael, a Libyan intelligence officer in Saudi custody, have given separate statements to US and Saudi officials outlining the plot.

Alamoudi told FBI officials that Gaddafi approved the plan. US officials confirm that Alamoudi and Ismael have offered detailed accounts of a Libyan plot to assassinate Abdullah and they appear to be credible enough to have launched a US probe. But officials said they were still examining the scope of the plot, how far it advanced and if Gaddafi was involved. They said the accusations were one reason the US had not removed Libya from the State Department8217;s list of nations that support terrorism.

As a revolutionary who overthrew a monarchy, Gaddafi has long regarded the Saudi royal family with a degree of contempt.

Alamoudi8217;s statements were offered in plea negotiations with federal prosecutors that are not yet completed. He was indicted last October in the US District Court in Alexandria accused of violating US sanctions by travelling to Libya and receiving money from Libyan officials. Senior officials in the US, British and Saudi governments have been aware of the investigation of the assassination plot for several months.

In June 2003, Alamoudi said, Gaddafi told him, 8216;8216;I want the crown prince killed, either through assassination or through a coup.8217;8217; By August, according to Alamoudi, Gaddafi asked why he had not yet seen 8216;8216;heads flying8217;8217; in the Saudi royal family. Alamoudi8217;s account is critical as it ties the terrorist plot that has been said to exist to a head of state. For that reason, Alamoudi has been questioned in detail about his two meetings with Gaddafi, including descriptions of the Libyan leader8217;s farm in Sidra, where they reportedly met in June, and of Gaddafi8217;s office in Tripoli, where they reportedly met in August.