WASHINGTON—A U.S. judge ordered Sudan Wednesday to pay almost $8 million to the families of the 17 sailors who were killed when al Qaeda militants bombed the USS Cole, an amount far short of their initial demand of $105 million.
The 59 family members had accused Sudan of providing financial support, diplomatic passports, explosives and other resources to al Qaeda, which rammed an explosives-laden boat into the side of the U.S. destroyer docked in Yemen in 2000.
"The court finds as a fact by substantial evidence that Sudan's material support to al Qaeda led to the murders of the seventeen American servicemen and woman," Judge Robert Doumar, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in his ruling.
The Sudanese government initially did not respond to the lawsuit, but then tried to have it dismissed. Lawyers for Sudan attended the two-day trial in March but only made an argument about damages and renewed its request to dismiss the case.
A lawyer for the families had no immediate comment on the damages award. Many of the families have also received survivor benefits from the U.S. Navy and Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Sudanese Embassy in Washington also had no immediate comment.
Payment could come from some $68.2 million in Sudanese assets that are in the United States and have been frozen because of what Washington cites as the country's links to terrorism.
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