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Families of Cole victims sue Sudan for $100 million

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, March 16, 2006

The families of the 17 sailors killed in the suicide strike on the USS Cole have charged Sudan with helping in the attack, which took place in the Yemeni port of Sanaa. The families have filed a suit of more than $100 million against Khartoum.

Filed in federal district court in Richmond, Va., the suit alleged that the Sudanese regime helped Al Qaida in the attack. The suit, expected to be heard later in March, said Sudan served as the headquarters of Al Qaida from 1991 until 1996.

In 1996, the United States pressured Sudan to expel Osama Bin Laden, Middle East Newsline reported. Bin Laden resettled in Afghanistan.

Citing a Canadian intelligence report, the families of the U.S. sailors said Khartoum facilitated a shipment of more than four crates of explosives from Sudan to Yemen before the USS Cole bombing. They said Sudan was also used as a base for Al Qaida attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

Sudan, the suit said, "knowingly and deliberately aided and abetted" the USS Cole bombers. The suit said Khartoum permitted Al Qaida agents to use Sudan as a safe haven and provided them with false passports.

Khartoum, on the U.S. State Department terrorist list, has denied involvement in the USS Cole strike. In February, an Al Qaida operative accused of the attack escaped a prison in Sanaa.

Prior to the suit, attorneys for the plaintiffs sought to obtain compensation from Congress. But Congress hesitated because the victims were active-duty military personnel.


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

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