Tripoli’s government yesterday named the two new Libyan suspects in the Lockerbie bombing investigation as Abdullah al-Senussi, the former spy chief of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi, and a second man, Mohammed Abu Ejaila.

Mr Senussi is currently being held in a jail in Tripoli after he was sentenced for his role in the deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising against Colonel Gaddafi. No details were immediately available on the second suspect in the 1988 airline bombing that killed 270 people. But one person familiar with the case said Mr Ejaila may also be known as Mohammed Abouajela Masud, a known bomb maker.

Jamal Zubia, director of the media office of the Tripoli government, sent a message to journalists confirming the names but saying the Libyan attorney general’s office had not been officially informed about the two suspects.

Libya court has sentenced Senussi to death over war crimes

Scottish and US investigators said on Thursday they had identified two new Libyan suspects in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 which was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, en route from London to New York.

Scottish and US authorities said they had informed Libya they wanted to send investigators to the North African country where rival governments and their armed backers are battling for control, four years after the revolt that ousted Col. Gaddafi.

In July, a Libyan court sentenced Col. Gaddafi’s most prominent son, Saif al-Islam, and eight others including Mr Senussi to death over war crimes including killings of protesters in 2011. They were sentenced to die by firing squad, though rights activists questioned the trial proceedings.

In 2001, Libyan Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was jailed for life and remains the only person to have been convicted over the bombing.

A second Libyan accused of involvement, Lamin Fhima, was tried with Mr Megrahi before a panel of Scottish judges sitting at a special court in the Netherlands but was found not guilty.