Lockerbie bombing victims remembered on 30th anniversary of terror attack

A general view of floral tributes which have been laid by the main memorial stone in memory of the victims of Pan Am flight 103 bombing, in the garden of remembrance at Dryfesdale Cemetery, near Lockerbie, Scotland, on Friday.

Arlington National Cemetery and Syracuse University are holding dual ceremonies Friday as the world remembers the anniversary of the bombing of Pam Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people on this day 30 years ago.

Among those killed in the terror attack were 189 Americans – including 15 active duty military, 10 veterans and 35 students from the upstate New York school. Both ceremonies started at 2:03 p.m. ET, the same time the bombing occurred in the skies above Scotland.

At a ceremony held earlier Friday in Scotland, a Church of Scotland minister vowed that the victims will never be forgotten.

"Scars from 30 years ago remain — they leave a mark that can never be removed," said the Rev. Susan Brown. "But while they will not disappear altogether, and while we would never want to forget the horrendous cost of that single hateful act, we realize all the more acutely the sweetness of life and the need for it to be lived to the full."

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During the service at Dryfesdale Cemetery in Lockerbie, prayers were read, a moment of silence was held, and wreaths were laid before a memorial with the names of the 270 victims. Relatives of the victims and a representative of Queen Elizabeth II were among those attending.

The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988, was the biggest mass murder on British soil in recent history. The plane was blown up midair by an explosive hidden in a suitcase in the cargo hold. All 259 people on board the flight from London's Heathrow Airport to New York were killed and 11 more were killed on the ground.

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Around 500 people are expected to gather at Arlington National Cemetery event, where a cairn made from Lockerbie stone stands in memory of those who were killed. At the Syracuse University event, prayers and reflections will be offered and the names of the student victims will be read, CNYCentral reports.

In this Dec 22, 1988 file photo, police and investigators look at what remains of the flight deck of Pan Am 103 in a field in Lockerbie, Scotland. (AP)

Many believe the atrocity was committed in revenge for the downing of an Iran Air passenger flight by a U.S. missile cruiser earlier in 1988.

Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi was convicted of the crime in a court in the Netherlands in 2001. He was the only person found guilty in the case. Al-Megrahi died of cancer nearly three years after he was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds in 2009.

Three decades later, the investigation into the Pan Am bombing continues, with British prosecutors pledging to track down Al-Megrahi's accomplices.

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Britain's Crown Office said Friday that prosecutors and police, along with their counterparts in the United States, are still investigating "with the sole aim of bringing those who acted along with Al-Megrahi to justice."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.