Lockerbie suspects
Abdullah Senussi (left) and Abu Agila Mas’ud sit behind bars during a hearing at a courtroom in Tripoli AFP/Reuters

The Libyan government in Tripoli has formally identified on 16 October the two new suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing as Libyans Abu Agila Mas'ud and Abdullah Senussi. Both are currently being held for atrocities committed during the Libyan revolution in 2011.

A spokesperson for the Tripoli government, which seized power in the Libyan capital in August 2014, confirmed the identity of the two suspects who are being sought by Scottish and American investigators. Scottish prosecutors announced they were seeking access to two new suspects on 15 October but declined to divulge their identities.

Prior to the most recent revelations, Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was the only person convicted in connection with the attack. He was jailed for life in 2001, having been convicted of 270 counts of murder at a special court in the Netherlands.

Mas'ud and Senussi became the focus of a ground-breaking documentary by PBS producer Ken Dornstein which aired over the last month the on the flagship investigative programme Frontline. In an investigation spanning more than four years and covering ground in Libya, Germany and Switzerland, Dornstien was able to track down the masterminds of the terrorist atrocity, the worst terror attack on US citizens prior to 9/11.