Libyan-sponsored terrorism: MPs to hear compensation call for UK victims

Libya supplied the plastic explosive Semtex to the IRA

MPs are to hear calls that UK victims of Libyan-sponsored terrorism should be compensated.

Conservative MP James Cartlidge is to raise the issue during a debate in Parliament.

The late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi supplied arms to the IRA during the Troubles and Libyan Semtex was a key weapon in its bombing campaign.

Libya compensated US victims of terrorism, but UK victims were left out of the deal.

Earlier this year, former prime minister Tony Blair denied trying to prevent IRA victims getting any financial compensation from Libya.

Mr Blair's comments came in written evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.

Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011

Links between the IRA and Libya can be traced back to 1972 when Gaddafi first praised the group as allies in a struggle against Western imperialism.

Gaddafi later helped provide the IRA with the weaponry they needed to wage an armed campaign that lasted more than 30 years and claimed more than 1,000 lives.

Victims of IRA bomb attacks say they are entitled to money from the frozen bank accounts of Gaddafi.

Towards the end of Gaddafi's rule, relatives of the victims in the 1988 Pan AM flight bombing over Lockerbie received compensation from Libya, which accepted responsibility for the attack.