ROME

Italy's former prime minister claimed that a French missile was behind the deadly 1980 Ustica plane crash that left 81 people dead, local media reported on Saturday.

In an interview with La Repubblica newspaper, Giuliano Amato said that the Dc9 Bologna-Palermo flight operated by the Itavia airline that crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between the islands of Ponza and Ustica on June 27, 1980, was hit in an attempt to assassinate late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"A plan was hatched to hit the aeroplane that Gaddafi was travelling on," said Amato, who served as Italy's prime minister twice, from 1992 to 1993, and from 2000 to 2001.

He said that Gaddafi survived this "trap" after he was warned by late Italian Socialist Party leader and former Prime Minister Bettino Craxi.

"Now the Elysee Palace can wash off the dishonour that weighs on (the conscience of) Paris," added Amato.

Daria Bonfietti, the president of the association of relatives of victims of the disaster, welcomed the revelation, state-run ANSA news agency reported.

"These words are important and this is a correct reconstruction of everything that is in the documents (regarding the case), which we have known for years," said Bonfietti.

In a written statement, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that Amato's remarks about the Ustica plane crash are important words to pay attention to.

However, Amato also said that these words were the result of his personal inferences, added Meloni.