Libyan leader, Col. Moammar Gadhafi last year ordered his intelligence chiefs to carry out a covert operation to assassinate the de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia and destabilize the oil-rich kingdom, according to testimony of two participants in the conspiracy.
According to The New York Times, those participants, Abdurahman Alamoudi, an American Muslim leader now in US jail, and Col. Mohamed Ismaeel, a Libyan intelligence agent in Saudi custody, have given separate statements to U.S. and Saudi officials outlining the plot.
One of them, Alamoudi, has told FBI officials and federal prosecutors that Gadhafi approved the assassination plan. Gadhafi's son, in an interview in London, called the accusation "nonsense."
U.S. officials confirm that Alamoudi and Ismaeel have offered detailed accounts of a Libyan plot to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah and that they appear to be credible enough to have launched a U.S. investigation.
Alamoudi's statements were offered in plea negotiations with federal prosecutors that are not yet completed. He was indicted last October in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., accused of violating American sanctions by traveling to Libya and receiving money from Libyan officials.
Gadhafi and Crown Prince Abdullah clashed at the Arab summit meeting that immediately preceded the war in Iraq. The two leaders exchanged insults during a public session, accusing each other of selling out to colonial powers. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
