British police to probe Lockerbie bombing

LONDON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Tripoli said it would let British investigators enter the country to investigate the 1998 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland, an official said.

British Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt returned from a three-day visit to Libya this week, where he met with officials in the transitional government.

Burt told Bloomberg News that Libyan Interior Minister Fawzy Abdul Aal would allow the return of British police "in relation to Lockerbie."

The interim government in Tripoli had balked over London's requests to further investigations into the bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, was convicted in the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, in which 270 people were killed. He was released from prison by Scottish officials in August 2009 on compassionate grounds because of a terminal prostate cancer diagnosis.

He was reportedly in a coma but gave an interview during the summer, prompting the U.S. State Department to remark on his "miraculous recovery."

Burt said, in a statement, that the stance by the transitional leaders in Libya was a sign of a renewed partnership between both countries following the war.

In November, Aal said the government in Tripoli would conduct an independent investigation to uncover the "truth" about the 1998 bombing if new documents emerged.