The German government has denied a report that the Libyan leader, Col Moammar Gadafy, told a German official he personally sanctioned the 1986 bombing of a disco in Berlin. The blast killed three and left more than 200 injured.
A government spokesman admitted that the foreign policy adviser, Mr Michael Steiner, had had talks with the Libyan leader last March about international terrorism, but said "no individual cases were discussed".
Yesterday the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper quoted from what it said was a leaked diplomatic memo which suggested the Libyan leader admitted involvement in the Berlin bombing as well as in the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. The La Belle disco in Berlin was popular with US soldiers. Three were killed and hundreds of other Americans were injured after the bombing in April 1986.
President Reagan suspended all diplomatic relations with Libya in the wake of the bombing and ordered air strikes against Tripoli and Libya's second city, Benghazi.
During a meeting between the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, and President Bush last March, Mr Steiner reportedly told of his conversation with the Libyan leader.
"Gadafy . . . admitted that Libya had been involved in terrorist activities. He declared that he had sworn off terrorism and asked for a chance to prove Libya's new position," according to the diplomatic memo. The newspaper said the memo was leaked as it was sent from the German embassy in Washington to the foreign ministry in Berlin.
If verified, the memo could prove to be crucial evidence in the trial of five men for the bombing. The trial is in its fourth year.
The chief prosecutor in Berlin remains convinced that Col Gadafy is "behind the actual perpetrators".
