ABU DHABI Ñ Saudi Arabia has approved limited use of a key air base for any military offensive against Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden.

The use, Saudi sources said, would ban U.S. aircraft from taking off from the Prince Sultan air base for any attack on Bin Laden bases in Afghanistan. But the base could be used to provide command, control and communications for air attacks launched from locations outside the kingdom.

The sources said Riyad relayed the conditions for use of the base last week. Prince Sultan is outside the city of Kharj, about 110 kilometers away from Riyad, and contains advanced radar and communications systems required to monitor and coordinate any major attack.

But Saudi sources stressed that U.S. warplanes would not be allowed to take off from Prince Sultan for a direct attack on Bin Laden or Afghanistan.

A Saudi military source told the Riyad-based Okaz daily that the kingdom Ñ contrary to a report in Friday's Washington Post daily Ñ would not be used as a launching pad for any U.S. military strike.

"They are absolutely untrue," the source said. "They are simply media fabrications," Riyad, the sources said, was assured that any attack on Bin Laden or Afghanistan would not take place from Saudi Arabia. The sources said such an air attack would probably be launched from neighboring Uzbekistan.

About 5,000 U.S. personnel are deployed at Prince Sultan. The base is used for U.S. air patrols of the no-fly zone in southern Iraq.

In Washington, U.S. officials said at one point the Pentagon prepared an alternative command center to replace Prince Sultan. The United States maintains the use of installations in just about every one of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states.

The sources said Riyad's approval was coordinated with that of other Gulf Cooperation Council states. Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar have also allowed the United States to use their facilities in the Washington-led counterterrorism campaign.

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