Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi allegedly ordered the 1998 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, the North African country's ex-justice minister is quoted as saying by a Swedish newspaper.

Libya's former justice minister, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who has resigned following the government's crackdown on protestors there, said that he had proof that Gaddafi gave the order of the bombing, the Expressen daily said in its report.

Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Scotland in 1988, killing all 259 passengers and crew as well as 11 people on the ground in the town of Lockerbie.

He added that in order to conceal his role, Gaddafi did all in his power to secure that Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan secret agent who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court in 2001 for the bombing, was brought back to Libya.

Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison in 2001, but was freed by Scottish authorities in August 2009 on compassionate grounds, as he had prostate cancer and was thought to have just months to live.

The Expressen newspaper said that its reporter met Abdel-Jalil at an unnamed location in Libya, but the excerpt did not offer details of Gaddafi's alleged involvement.

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