Pan Am Flight 103 - Claims of Responsibility

Claims of Responsibility

According to a CIA analysis dated 22 December 1988, several groups were quick to claim responsibility in telephone calls in the United States and Europe:

• A male caller claimed that a group called the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution had destroyed the plane in retaliation for the U.S. shootdown of Iran Air Flight 655 in the Persian Gulf the previous July.
• A caller claiming to represent the Islamic Jihad Organization told ABC News in New York that the group had planted the bomb to commemorate Christmas.
• Other callers claim responsibility for the "Ulster Defense League" and the Mossad.

After finishing this list, the author stated, "We consider the claims from the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution as the most credible one received so far". The analysis concluded, "We cannot assign responsibility for this tragedy to any terrorist group at this time. We anticipate that, as often happens, many groups will seek to claim credit".

• On 22 February 2011 during the Libyan civil war, the ex Minister of Justice Mustafa Abdul Jalil stated in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Expressen that Muammar Gaddafi had personally ordered the bombing. Jalil claimed to possess "documents that prove and ready to hand them over to the international criminal court." As of June 2012, no such documents have surfaced.
• Gaddafi admitted Libya's responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid compensation to the victims' families in 2003 though he maintained that he never personally gave the order for the attack.