LONDON -- Scottish prosecutors say they have identified two Libyans as suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in which 270 people were killed.
"The Lord Advocate and the US Attorney General have recently agreed that there is a proper basis in law in Scotland and the United States to entitle Scottish and US investigators to treat two Libyans as suspects in the continuing investigation into the bombing of flight Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie," the Scottish Crown Office said in a statement Thursday.
"The Lord Advocate has today, therefore, issued an International Letter of Request to the Libyan Attorney General in Tripoli which identifies the two Libyans as suspects in the bombing of flight Pan Am 103.
"The Lord Advocate and the US Attorney General are seeking the assistance of the Libyan judicial authorities for Scottish police officers and the FBI to interview the two named suspects in Tripoli."
A bomb shattered the New York-bound Boeing 747 as it flew over Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988, killing all 259 people aboard the plane and 11 on the ground. Many of the victims were American college students flying home for Christmas.
The case is still open, and after the 2011 fall of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Britain asked Libya's new rulers to help fully investigate. But the country has since been wracked by chaos and political violence.
The two people are suspected of involvement in the bombing along with Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, who was the only person convicted.
Megrahi, who was diagnosed with cancer, was released from prison in 2009 on compassionate grounds. His death was announced in May 2012 by his son, Khaled.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press.