Lockerbie Mourns Victims of 1988 Pan Am Bombing

To the mournful lament of bagpipes and prayers of healing, residents of Lockerbie paid tribute to the 270 people killed 10 years ago Monday, when a bomb hidden in a suitcase sent Pan Am Flight 103 crashing down on this Scottish town.

The hundreds who packed Dryfesdale Parish Church heard messages from British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Clinton, who renewed vows to punish the culprits of the Dec. 21, 1988, blast.

But they also heard quiet sobs that echoed throughout the century-old church as several moments of silence were observed before the bagpiper blew her lament.

“In the lives that were lost, some very young, there was meaning and achievement,” the Rev. David Almond told the gathering of about 600 people, including 60 relatives of those who perished. “Our task in commemoration is to continue that meaning and to build on that achievement.”

Earlier, Prince Philip, the queen’s husband, laid a wreath in Lockerbie’s cemetery.

In a separate service in London’s Westminster Abbey, attended by Blair, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and the queen’s second son, Prince Andrew, hundreds listened as each of the names of the 259 passengers and crew and 11 of Lockerbie’s own residents were read and a candle was lighted for each.

The service began at 7:03 p.m. local time, the moment when the plane disappeared from radar screens. Simultaneous services were held at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia and in Syracuse, N.Y., which lost 35 college students in the crash.

Meanwhile, Clinton warned Libya that an offer to try two bombing suspects in the Netherlands was not negotiable and threatened tougher sanctions if the men are not handed over by February.