Lockerbie relatives overcome by anguish on first day of trial

CAMP ZEIST, Netherlands — The trial of two Libyans accused in the Lockerbie bombing opened Wednesday after 12 years of diplomatic wrangling and painstaking investigations, with victims' relatives here and across the Atlantic watching a video showing the final seconds of Pan Am Flight 103.

The two alleged Libyan intelligence agents repeated their innocent pleas and sought to shift blame for the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing onto Palestinian militants.

Libya was under international sanctions for seven years trying to force its leader, Moammar Gadhafi, to surrender the suspects, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah. It finally agreed to hand them over a year ago to a special Scottish court sitting on this former U.S. air base.

Al-Magrahi and Fhimah are charged with the murder of the 259 people on the New York-bound jet and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland. 189 Americans died in the explosion. If convicted, the two men could face a life sentence in a Scottish prison.

In their statement, defense lawyers said they will seek to exculpate their clients by presenting evidence suggesting the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 was the work of two militant groups: the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and the Palestine Popular Struggle Front. Both groups have denied involvement.