Libya backtracks on Lockerbie liability

LONDON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Libya's prime minister says Libya only admitted to the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland to "buy peace" with the West, the Financial Times reports.

Shukri Ghanem, in a BBC radio interview, also denied Libyan involvement in the shooting of a British woman police constable in 1984 outside the Libyan embassy in London.

He said Libya's offer to pay compensation to the families of 270 people killed over Lockerbie was not an admission of guilt.

There was no immediate response from Prime Minister Tony Blair's government on Ghanem's remarks.

His comments are a severe embarrassment to the British government, which has responded positively to Libya's recent efforts to end its international isolation and economic sanctions, the newspaper said.

In December, Libya agreed to dismantle its weapons program and to allow U.N. inspectors in to monitor the process.

That process could be completed as early as the end of June, according to the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, who is currently visiting Libya.