BOMBER 'TOO SICK TO SPEAK' CANCER-STRICKEN MEGRAHI DETERIORATES: Lockerbie killer moved to intensive care ward.

Byline: CHARLES LAVERY

LOCKERBIE bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was too ill to talk last night after his health "deteriorated markedly", his brother said.

Abdenasser al-Megrahi revealed: "He is at a special ward at Tripoli Medical Centre.

"His condition has deteriorated rapidly since yesterday. He is unable to speak to anyone."

Megrahi's doctors confirmed Abdenasser's statement but they declined to give details.

They said: "We are expecting the result of lab exams from Germany to arrive here before a special committee of doctors release a statement on his health circumstances."

Protests The bomber's release from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds last month caused a worldwide storm.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill claimed the cancer-stricken prisoner had only months to live but the US government led protests against his release. Reports claimed some doctors had insisted he might live many months more than was being claimed.

But Ali Shuaib, a journalist due to interview Megrahi in his hospital bed, said: "He could not utter words. He cannot speak.

"I was due to interview him from his hospital bed but he cannot speak to me because of the apparent sudden deterioration of his health." On Wednesday, Libya denied reports that Megrahi was dying after his condition worsened.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Seyala said al-Megrahi had actually been moved to a special VIP wing of the hospital in Tripoli.

He was released from Greenock Prison last month on the grounds he had prostate cancer and would be lucky to live for more than three months.

The US criticised the decision to release the 57-year-old, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2001 for his part in blowing up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in December 1988, killing 270 people.

Megrahi arrived home in Libya to a hero's welcome after MacAskill ordered his release.

It led to a flurry of accusations that the UK government had struck a deal with Libya over the terrorist's release in return for oil rights.

There was speculation the doctors who told MacAskill that Megrahi had three months to live had got it wrong.

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Treatment: Megrahi last Wednesday after Libya denied he was dying