WASHINGTON, April 30: The United States has not yet removed Libya from its list of states sponsoring terrorism despite a dramatic improvement in bilateral relations, a senior State Department official said.

Ambassador Cofer Black, the State Department's counter terrorism chief, told reporters after launching the annual 'Patterns of Global Terrorism' report that the Libyans still had to convince the United States that they had no 'continued links' to terrorism before they could be removed from the list.

Earlier this week, officials in Tripoli said they hoped the US administration would delete Libya from the roster of states that sponsor terror. Relations between the United States and Libya have improved considerably since Tripoli gave up its weapons of mass destruction.