A bomb hidden in a radio cassette player destroys Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. Libya later accepts responsibility and pays compensation.
Contested history
Consensus: Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001 by a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands, and Libya accepted responsibility in 2003; a second Libyan suspect awaits trial in the US.
A Libyan state operationEstablished
A timer fragment traced to a Swiss firm that supplied Libya, and Libya paid compensation to victims' families.
Megrahi was wrongly convictedDebated
A Scottish review body twice referred his case back to appeal, but the appeal court upheld the conviction in 2021.
Iran and a Palestinian group were behind itMinority view
Early suspicion fell on the PFLP-GC acting for Iran after the 1988 downing of Iran Air 655, but the forensic trail led to Libya.