The motive that is generally attributed to Libya can be traced back to a series of military confrontations with the US Navy that took place in the 1980s in the Gulf of Sidra , the whole of which Libya claimed as its territorial waters . First , there was the Gulf of Sidra incident ( 1981 ) when two Libyan fighter aircraft were shot down by two US Navy F-14 Tomcat fighters . Then , two Libyan radio ships were sunk in the Gulf of Sidra . Later , on 23 March 1986 , a Libyan Navy patrol boat was sunk in the Gulf of Sidra , followed by the sinking of another Libyan vessel on 25 March 1986 . The Libyan leader , Muammar Gaddafi , was accused of retaliating for these sinkings by ordering the April 1986 bombing of La Belle , a West Berlin nightclub frequented by US military personnel , killing three people and injuring 230
the April 1986 bombing of La Belle
1986 West Berlin discotheque bombing
Pan Am Flight 103