A member of the public looks at the main memorial stone in memory of the victims of Pan Am flight 103 bombing in the garden of remembrance at Dryfesdale Cemetery, near Lockerbie, Scotland. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell).
London - Britain was due to mark the 25th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing on Saturday, with memorials being held in London and in the Scottish town where Pan Am flight 103 came crashing down following a terrorist attack.
Memorials were also due to be held at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia and at Syracuse University in the United States. The majority of the 270 victims of the disaster were Americans, with the US university losing 35 of its students.
Pam Am flight 103 was flying from London to New York on December 21, 1988 when it exploded in the air and crashed onto Lockerbie, killing everyone on board and 11 people on the ground.
Former Libyan agent Abdel Basat al-Megrahi was convicted of the bombing in 2001 and sent to a Scottish prison to serve a life sentence.
The Scottish government later released him on humanitarian grounds and in 2009 sent him back to Libya, where he died in 2012 after a long battle with cancer.
“To families, friends, neighbours, loved ones and all those caught up in the painful process of recovery, let us say to them: our admiration for you is unconditional; for the fortitude and resilience you have shown; for your determination never to give up. You have shown that terrorist acts cannot crush the human spirit. That is why terrorism will never prevail,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said, ahead of the memorials.
Hundreds of people were expected to attend a memorial service in London's Westminster Abbey later in the day.
Sapa-dpa
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