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thedrifter
03-15-07, 05:55 AM
US judge declares Sudan partly responsible for attack on USS Cole

Wed Mar 14, 4:40 PM ET

A federal judge declared on Wednesday that Sudan bears some responsibility for the attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 US marines in 2000, an attorney for the victims' families told AFP.

Judge Robert Doumar made the statement at the end of a two-day civil trial. His written opinion in the case is expected within a few months.

"The judge ... found the evidence involving Sudan's responsibility for the bombing of the Cole to be sufficient and in point actually overwhelming," Andrew Hall, the lead attorney for the bombing victims' families, told AFP.

Relatives of the sailors who died in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole sought to hold the government of Sudan legally responsible for the attack, and asked for damages of 105 million dollars.

The bombing was carried out by two Yemeni terrorists who had trained in Sudan. The destroyer was harbored in the Yemeni port of Aden at the time of the attack, which also injured 39 sailors.

The Yemenis blew themselves up next to the Cole, punching a 12-meter (40-foot) hole in its side.

The families' lawsuit alleged that Sudan provided financial and training support to members of the Al-Qaeda terror network.

"Without Sudan's sanctuary, the bombing of the Cole could not have occurred," Hall said.

"We proved that Sudan embarked upon a plan where it was going to be a sanctuary for terrorists and Al-Qaeda in particular, and starting in 1991 and continuing all the way through the bombing of the Cole," he said.

The country "provided training camps ... it allowed its banking system to be used to launder money, it provided safe houses ... and it gave terrorists diplomatic passports so that they would not be stopped and searched," he added.

Sudan "did everything within its power in order to facilitate terrorism and in particular the bombing of the Cole," he said, indicating that explosives were routinely shipped from Sudan into Yemen.

After failing to stop the proceedings in Norfolk, Virginia, arguing that US federal courts lacked jurisdiction in the affair, the government of Sudan refused to participate in the trial.

Ellie