Justice officials to meet US senate team over Lockerbie

A team representing Senator Robert Menendez will meet Scottish justice officials on Thursday

US senate officials investigating the release of the Lockerbie bomber are to hold talks with the Scottish government in Edinburgh on Thursday.

The team, representing Senator Robert Menendez, will meet Scottish justice officials.

They will not meet Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, who freed Abdelbasset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds in August 2009.

Megrahi is the only man convicted of the 1988 atrocity.

He was jailed in 2001 for the bombing of Pan AM flight 103 over Lockerbie, which claimed 270 lives, mainly Americans.

Megrahi was released from a Scottish prison after being diagnosed with prostate cancer and given three months to live.

However, he has survived for more than a year.

Opposition members of the Scottish Parliament will also meet with the American delegation.

The investigators are preparing a report for the US senate's foreign relations committee which is due to hold a hearing on Capitol Hill later this month.

It launched an inquiry amid claims - denied by the Scottish and UK governments - that Megrahi's release was linked to an oil deal.