Scotland Yard announced Saturday that detectives had begun checking the "relevance and credibility" of information about the death of Diana, the ex-wife of Prince Charles and the mother of princes William and Harry. The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that the allegations came from the estranged in-laws of a special forces soldier. According to the newspaper, they told the military he had claimed to his wife that his special forces unit had arranged and covered up the detah of Diana.

"The Metropolitan Police Service is scoping information that has recently been received in relation to the deaths and assessing its relevance and credibility," Scotland Yard announced in a statement.

"The assessment will be carried out by officers from the specialist crime and operations command. This is not a reinvestigation and does not come under Operation Paget," the statement said.

Operation Paget refers to the initial British investigation into claims of a conspiracy to murder Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed, allegations made by Mohamed Al-Fayed, the former owner of the Harrods department store and the father of the princess’s final lover. Led by John Stevens, formerly Britain's top policeman, the investigation found all allegations without foundation.

The Defense Ministry refused comment to news agencies over the allegations.

'With vigor'

As driver Henri Paul - later found to have had a blood-alcohol level three times above France's limit - tried to ditch a pack of paparazzi, the car that Diana rode in smashed into a pillar in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris and spun around. Trevor Rees-Jones, a member of the Al-Fayed family's protection team and the only person in the car wearing a seatbelt, survived.

Medical personnel pronounced Dodi Fayed, 42, and Paul - the deputy head of security at Al-Fayed's plush Hotel Ritz in Paris - dead at the scene of the crash. Diana, 36, died later in the hospital.

A spokesman for Mohamed Al-Fayed characterized the tycoon as "interested in seeing the outcome" and urged police to investigate "with vigor." Five years ago, he had announced that he would abandon his 10-year campaign to prove the deaths a murder: "I am leaving the rest for God to get my revenge."

Prince Charles married Diana in 1981, but their already shaky marriage fell apart soon after Harry's birth in 1984, with both sides admitting adultery. They separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.

Last month, William and has wife, Catherine, introduced England and the world to Diana’s first grandchild, George, born in the same London hospital where the princess herself had given birth to her two boys.

mkg/kms (Reuters, AFP, AP)