Pan Am Bomb Suspects Said to Deny Roles

Two Libyans wanted by the West to stand trial on charges of blowing up an American airliner denied involvement in the 1988 bombing over Scotland, a British newspaper said today.

Abdel Basset Ali Megrahi, 39, and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, 35, told the Daily Mail they were not to blame for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie in which 270 people died.

Megrahi was quoted as saying in an interview: “I am not guilty. The days will prove that.”

He added: “I want to send this message to the British people, the American people and the international community. One day I will be found not guilty.

“I am sorry for the people of Lockerbie, and one day you will see that.”

Fhimah was asked if he had planted the bomb aboard the jumbo jet. He replied: “Never ever.”

He added: “I don’t know why my name has been chosen. Where in my history am I a danger man? I am a normal person brought up in a normal family.”

Legal sources in Tripoli said the two men will be questioned today by a magistrate in private--not at a public hearing as had been expected.

They are also to be shown to reporters to prove they are neither missing nor dead, as suggested by Western press reports, the sources said.

British and American judicial authorities say the two men used their jobs with Libya’s state airline as a cover for activities carried out as members of the country’s intelligence service.