Libyan intelligence was plotting last year to assassinate the leader of Saudi Arabia, two participants in the plan told US and Saudi officials, The New York Times reported yesterday.

One of the participants, Abdurahman Alamoudi, an American Muslim leader now jailed in Alexandria, Virginia, has told FBI officials and federal prosecutors that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi approved the assassination plan, the newspaper said. Gaddafi?s son, in an interview in London, called the accusation nonsense, the Times said.

Mohamed Ismael, a Libyan intelligence officer in Saudi custody, also gave separate statements to Saudi officials outlining the plot, the newspaper said.

Ismael has said that his orders to be operational commander of the plot came from two Libyan intelligence chiefs who report directly to Gaddafi, the newspaper said. US officials confirmed that Alamoudi and Ismael 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 US investigation, the Times said.

Officials said they are still examining the scope of the plot, how far it advanced and whether Gaddafi was involved, the newspaper said. Alamoudi?s statements were offered in plea negotiations with US prosecutors that are not complete, the newspaper said. He was indicted in October in federal court, accused of violating US sanctions by traveling to Libya and receiving money from Libyan officials, the Times said. Bush suspended sanctions against Libya in April, allowing US companies to buy Libyan oil and invest in its economy after Gaddafi publicly renounced terrorism, admitted responsibility for the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing and agreed to pay $10 million to the families.