'No base for attacks on Muslims'

RIYADH, SEPT. 30. The Defence Minister of Saudi Arabia, Prince Sultan, has said that no troops would be allowed to use bases in his nation to launch attacks on the Arabs or the Muslims, according to an interview published on Sunday. ``We will not accept in our country even a single soldier who will attack Muslims or Arabs,'' he was quoted as saying in an interview to the Government-controlled Okaz newspaper.

The Sultan's comments, however, might have been for domestic consumption because U.S. military presence in the kingdom is sensitive to the Muslims. Some American officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said on Friday that they had received tacit assurances that Saudi Arabia would allow the U.S. troops to use a command centre as a staging ground for military action against the terrorist mastermind, Osama bin Laden.

- AP

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