Britain and the United States ordered Libya on Wednesday to surrender two of its citizens that they have each indicted for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
In a joint statement, they said Libya must “surrender for trial all those charged with the crime,” which killed 270 people, 193 of whom were U.S. nationals.
State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler refused to rule out any U.S. military options should Libya not cooperate with the allied demands. She said the United States is “deadly serious.”
The two countries also demanded that Libya “accept responsibility for the actions of Libyan officials.” That was a reference to the two men indicted, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, whom the United States and Britain have linked to Libya’s intelligence service.
Libya was also ordered to “pay appropriate compensation” for the bombing.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
