The Scottish Government has said it stands ready to investigate any new lines of inquiry surrounding the Lockerbie bombing that may emerge from today's developments in Libya.

The announcement comes following reports that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been killed.

Last month, the new Libyan authorities told the UK Government they would co-operate with Scottish prosecutors and police investigating the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the atrocity which killed 270 people when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie four days before Christmas, was freed on compassionate grounds from Greenock Prison in August 2009. Doctors advised he had around three months to live after he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.

It has always been accepted that he did not act alone.

He told Reuters news agency earlier this month from his home in Tripoli that "new facts" about the bombing would be announced in the coming months.

Megrahi had served as an intelligence agent during Gaddafi's rule.

A Scottish Government spokesman said today: "Reports are still emerging from Libya, and the circumstances about Gaddafi are unconfirmed.

"But regardless of whether the former dictator Gaddafi is alive or not, the position is clear as far as the Scottish justice system is concerned.

"The Crown Office have always said that the Lockerbie atrocity remains an open case. The only person convicted, al-Megrahi, acted in his capacity as a Libyan intelligence agent - he was found guilty of an act of state-sponsored terrorism and did not act alone.

"Therefore, our police and prosecution authorities stand ready to investigate and follow any new lines of inquiry that may be emerging in Libya at the present moment - just as Scotland's justice system has dealt with all aspects of the Lockerbie atrocity over the last 23 years according to the precepts of Scots Law, and no other factor.

"We now look forward to the end of conflict in Libya, and the emergence of a free and democratic country."

Under the conditions of his release, Megrahi must remain in regular contact with East Renfrewshire Council.

A spokeswoman for the local authority said that today's developments did not change their position.

She said: "Our position with regards to the monitoring of Megrahi remains the same."