LONDON, March 11: Libya reached agreement with the United States and Britain on Tuesday to accept civil responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and compensate victims’ relatives, a source close to the talks said.

The deal would end a lingering dispute between the West and an Arab state shortly before a likely US-led war against Iraq.

“History is in the making. A deal could be announced at any moment,” the source said after US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns met Libyan and British officials in London.

Under the arrangement, Libya would compensate families of the 259 mostly American passengers and crew killed in the mid-air explosion of the Pan Am flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 and 11 people killed on the ground.—Reuters