US judge orders Sudan to pay almost $8M for USS Cole bombing News
US judge orders Sudan to pay almost $8M for USS Cole bombing

[JURIST] US District Judge Robert G. Doumar of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] ordered the government of Sudan Wednesday to pay $7.96 million in compensation to the families of 17 US Navy personnel killed in the 2000 al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole [Wikipedia backgrounder; US DOD inquiry report; JURIST news archive]. The families had sought $105 million for pain and suffering, but the federal Death on the High Seas Act [text] limits compensation to only economic damages.

In March, Doumar held Sudan liable for the attack a day after the plaintiffs introduced expert testimony [JURIST reports] from four witnesses that al Qaeda could not have accomplished the bombing had Sudan not supported the terrorist organization. AP has more.