Berlin - Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has admitted Libya was behind the 1986 bombing of a Berlin discotheque frequented by United States servicemen in which three people were killed, a lawyer for victims of the attack said on Tuesday.
Andreas Schulz said Gaddafi had made the admission to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's chief foreign policy adviser, Michael Steiner.
Schulz gave as his source a communique sent by the German embassy in Washington to the foreign ministry in Berlin and leaked to his law practice.
Schulz said he had filed a request on Tuesday to the Berlin court that has been hearing the case of the La Belle bombing since November 1997 to call Steiner as a witness.
He added that he expected Steiner to testify that Gaddafi told him that Libya was involved in plotting the disco bombing, which also injured some 200 people and occurred during a high point in tensions between Libya and the US.
The foreign ministry and the chancellor's office declined to comment on the matter.
The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Tuesday that Steiner had spoken of the admission during a meeting on March 29 in Washington attended by US President George Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, as well as Schroder and German ambassador Juergen Chrobog.
No date was given for the talks between Steiner and Gaddafi.
The newspaper quoted the key passage from the communique: "MD (Ministry Director) Steiner reported on his talks with Gaddafi in Libya. He acknowledged that Libya participated in terrorist actions (La Belle, Lockerbie). He explained that he has rejected terrorism and requested the opportunity to demonstrate Libya's new position."
A Libyan man was convicted in January for his role in the bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, but Tripoli has not accepted responsibility for the attack or paid reparations.
The prosecution in the case which began in 1997 has accused the Libyan secret service of ordering the (Berlin) attack. Prosecutor Detlev Mehlis said the allegations would require new witnesses to be heard.
"If there is really a telegram, Steiner and Ambassador Chrobog must be heard as witnesses," he said.
Schulz's law practice recently placed full-page newspaper advertisements calling on Gaddafi to admit his role in the bombing and to offer compensation to victims.
The newspaper report said that German public prosecutors also had other witness statements and evidence that suggested Gaddafi had personally plotted the attack.
La Belle was primarily frequented by US service officers stationed in Berlin and most of the victims were American.
Then-US president Ronald Reagan ordered the bombing of the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Bengazi after the Berlin attack. - Sapa-AFP