Detectives in Scotland are examining newly surfaced documents from Libya’s former intelligence service, allegedly providing fresh evidence that implicates Tripoli in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, according to the BBC. The files, believed to be the first written proof directly from Libyan intelligence, reportedly confirm the involvement of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s Jamahiriya Security Organisation (JSO) in the attack.
The documents also suggest Libyan agents were responsible for the destruction of French airliner UTA Flight 772 in 1989, which killed all 170 people on board. According to the BBC, a former FBI agent described the material as potential “dynamite,” suggesting it could be used by American prosecutors in the upcoming trial of Abu Agila Masoud, accused of assembling the Lockerbie bomb.
Pan Am Flight 103 was destroyed over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December 1988, killing 259 passengers and crew, along with 11 Lockerbie residents. Ten months later, UTA Flight 772 crashed in Niger after a bomb detonated on board. Both attacks have long been attributed to Libyan operatives, and these newly discovered documents could further strengthen the existing convictions.
The documents were published in the book The Murderer Who Must Be Saved, authored by French investigative journalists Karl Laske and Vincent Nouzille, and Libyan activist Samir Shegwara. Shegwara, who participated in the 2011 uprising against Gaddafi, claims the files were recovered from the archives of former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi. Senussi, named as a suspect in the Lockerbie case in 2015, allegedly preserved these records.
If authenticated, the documents may lead to renewed legal proceedings and bolster the case against Masoud, who is currently awaiting trial in Washington. Scottish and French courts have already convicted Libyan agents over both bombings, but this new evidence may reopen key aspects of both cases.
