The Justice Department has unsealed charges against a Libyan bombmaker in the 1988 explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
The attack killed 259 people in the air and an additional 11 on the ground.
The charges were announced on the 32nd anniversary of the bombing and in the final news conference of Attorney General William Barr’s tenure, underscoring his personal attachment to a case that unfolded during his first stint at the Justice Department.
In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 left Heathrow Airport for New York City. Less than 40 minutes into the flight, the plane exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing everyone on board and spreading debris over 845 square miles across Scotland.
During the investigation, forensic specialists found fragments on the ground that were determined to be from the circuit board of a radio/cassette player. The fragments led to two Libyan intelligence operatives, Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah.
The two men were tried in Scottish court sitting in neutral Netherlands. Fhimah was aquitted and Megrahi was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
The Libyan government formally accepted responsibility for the bombing and agree to pay nearly $3 billion to the victims' families.
(CNN and the FBI contributed to this report.)
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