"I insist on stating officially that this article is without foundation, that Libya has committed no such act," said Shalgam

TRIPOLI, June 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Libya denied Thursday, June 10, a report in The New York Times that its leader, Moammar Gaddafi, last year planned to have the crown prince of Saudi Arabia assassinated.

"I insist on stating officially that this article is without foundation, that Libya has committed no such act and that it is firmly engaged in the fight against terrorism," Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgam was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The alleged murder plot, involving firing rockets at Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz' motorcade, is being investigated by the United States, Saudi Arabia and Britain, people with knowledge of the case told the U.S. daily.

"Those participants, Abdurahman Al-Amoudi, an American Muslim leader now in jail in Alexandria, Va., and Col. Mohamed Ismael, a Libyan intelligence officer in Saudi custody, have given separate statements to American and Saudi officials outlining the plot," according to the Times.

Shalgam said "those who spread such stories are elements hostile to Libya" who "want to poison our relations with Saudi Arabia."

The top diplomat praised bilateral relations as "good and normal."

If the alleged conspiracy turns out to be true, it could undermine Gaddafi's efforts to clean up his image and his public pledges to help combat terrorism.

A senior Bush administration official told the Times that the emergence of convincing evidence that Gaddafi ordered or condoned an assassination and terror campaign could cause a "180 degree" change of American policy toward Libya.

U.S. officials said the investigation of the alleged assassination plot is one reason why Libya has not been removed from a U.S. State Department list of countries that support terrorism.

Interviewed in London, the Libyan leader's son, Seif Al-Islam, described the reported plot as "nonsense."

In September last year, two Libyans were arrested in Cairo after having allegedly attacked Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.

The two men had reportedly said they wanted to pay the Saudis back after Gaddafi was called a liar by Prince Abdullah during the Arab summit in Egypt in March 2003.