TRIPOLI. Dec 31: Libya's Attorney General ordered Wednesday the arrest of nine senior US officials who served under former president Ronald Reagan for involvement in the 1986 air raid on his country, reports AFP.

The order has been issued to the "Libyan Foreign Ministry to have it sent via the diplomatic route to US authorities." the attorney general said in a news release.

If US authorities "do not respond to this request and do not hand over the suspects, the next stage will be to go to the (UN) Security Council to request their extradition," the release said.

This step would be "similar to the one taken by the United States and Britain to obtain, in a less important incident, the extradition of two Libyan suspects in the Lockerbie affair."