Gaddafi ordered the Lockerbie bombing

EVIL Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi personally ordered the Lockerbie jet bombing, a former top aide sensationally revealed yesterday.

Gaddafi's ex-justice minister said he could prove the brutal tyrant was behind the deaths of 270 people when Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over the Scottish town on December 21 1988.
The confession came as hundreds of Britons desperately tried to escape riot-hit Libya today after a Government rescue mission turned to shambles.

Free ... al-Megrahi

Weary Brits who did getaway said the country was "descending into hell".
Prime Minister David Cameron this morning apologised for a string of problems that have thwarted efforts to get Brits out of the danger zone.
He said: "What I want to say to those people is I am extremely sorry.
"It is a very difficult picture in Libya. This is not an easy situation."
A total of 262 British nationals have now escaped the chaos on chartered and military aircraft.
But there are fears for the 170 or so workers trapped in the desert - amid speculation special forces may be deployed to rescue them.
Some 132 people have already arrived in Malta on board a plane chartered by the Foreign Office and 79 landed at Gatwick earlier today on a flight organised by BP.

Shake ... Tony Blair and Gaddafi in 2007

The latest flight, an RAF Hercules, took off from Tripoli airport bound for Malta with 51 British nationals on board this afternoon. Meanwhile, HMS Cumberland is docked in the city of Benghazi waiting to evacuate at least 70 Britons by sea. It could take "upwards of 150" people in total, including foreign nationals, as a degree of international co-ordination emerges.
Defence Secretary Liam Fox said it was not clear where everyone was and it was a "constantly changing picture".
Hated Gaddafi hit the airwaves earlier today and challenged fellow Libyans to quell the protests bringing chaos to the country.

Video: Gaddafi losing grip on Libya

VIOLENCE spreads as Brits continue desperate bid to return home

• Lifestyle

In a rambling address apparently by telephone to state television, he said: "I call on the people of Libya to get out of their houses and confront this bunch of people.
"If they are not brave enough to go out and face this enemy on the street, maybe they should let their women and their daughters go out."
He appeared to link the protesters, whom he dubbed "our children", with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.
Yesterday Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who recently quit as justice minister in protest at the regime's violent crackdown on anti-government demos, said Gaddafi ordered Abdelbaset al-Megrahi to plant the bomb that killed 259 people on the plane over Lockerbie and 11 on the ground.
Al-Megrahi, 58, is the only person convicted of the atrocity. He was jailed in 2001 but controversially freed on compassionate grounds in 2009 because he is dying of cancer.

Sisters unite ... women protesting in Kuala Lumpar

Abdel-Jalil made his dramatic accusation in a Swedish newspaper. He said: "I have proof that Gaddafi gave the order about Lockerbie. To hide it, he did everything in his power to get al-Megrahi back from Scotland."
Abdel-Jalil has not so far provided proof.

Relieved ... escaped passenger Jan

Gaddafi accepted Libya's responsibility for the bombing and paid compensation. But he has never admitted personal responsibility.
The shocking revelation that he gave the fatal order sparked fury last night among families of victims.
Bob Monetti, of New Jersey, US, whose son died, said: "There is no question who ordered it. I can't wait to see Gaddafi hanging by his heels."
Whitehall documents reveal Gordon Brown's Labour government did "all it could" to have al-Megrahi returned to Libya to help seal a BP oil deal and improve relations.
Mr Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair were both pictured shaking hands with Gaddafi.
At Gatwick Airport today passenger Helena Sheehan, 66, described the wait for rescue as "some of the worst hours of her life", before adding: "Libya is descending into hell."
Jan McKeogh, also arriving from Libya, said she had heard tales of some "absolute atrocities" in the country that were too upsetting to describe.
She continued: "Monday night was the turning point for us.

Chaos ... burnt out cars in the western city of Tobruk

"Chinooks flew over our house and there were machine gun blasts shortly afterwards. "It's usually a very, very safe area but there were absolute maniacs over there."
The conflict in Libya has caused outrage around the world after Gaddafi began massacring his own people - with as many as 10,000 claimed dead.

Home ... Turkish citizens arrive in Marmaris after escaping Libyan conflict

Fifty thousand were said to have been injured, but the leader has vowed to fight to the "last drop of blood".
Freedom protesters want Gaddafi, who has ruled with an iron fist for 42 years, to stand down.
Yesterday two pilots sent to bomb second city Benghazi - now controlled by the demonstrators - parachuted out and left their jet to crash harmlessly rather than join in with the atrocities.

Horrors ... fifty thousand are said to have been injured in the conflict

More than 30,000 Tunisians and Egyptians have fled to their home countries from Libya since Monday. Attempts to rescue Brits stranded in the country had been branded a fiasco by furious families desperate to get their loved ones back home.
The first chartered airliner was belatedly due to fly out yesterday afternoon but BROKE DOWN on the tarmac at Gatwick.

Fleeing ... men cross the border from Libya into Tunisia

Plans to send out a giant C17 military transport jet were then SCRAPPED at the last minute - for fear of provoking crazed tyrant Colonel Gaddafi. Meanwhile the Royal Navy rescue frigate HMS Cumberland had remained STUCK out at sea - frightened of dropping anchor in Libya.
Foreign Secretary William Hague also apologised today for the delays.
He told the BBC: "I am very sorry to those people who couldn't get out yesterday.
"Three planes were meant to go out yesterday morning and, for a variety of reasons that I found infuriating but nonetheless we have to deal with, none of those planes were able or willing to take off."

The PM last night called Iran a "pariah state" and urged tougher sanctions to prevent it getting nuclear weapons. The price of oil leapt to 110.56 dollars a barrel yesterday - amid fears it could hit 150 dollars if unrest in the Middle East spreads.