Sudan & Iran Liable for Bombings, Suit Says

WASHINGTON (CN) - Relatives and survivors of the 1998 terrorist bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya demand more than $1 billion in damages from the Iranian and Sudanese governments, which allegedly sponsored the al-Qaida attacks. Two U.S. nationals and more than 100 foreigners claim Sudan and Iran provided material support to the terrorists, in a lawsuit filed in Federal Court.

Iran provided the technical training that allowed al-Qaida to build the bombs, the lawsuit claims, while Sudan has long supported al-Qaida as it grew into an organization capable of bombing embassies.

The district court has jurisdiction over the U.S. nationals, and the plaintiffs claim it also has jurisdiction over the foreigners based on a new state sponsor of terrorism exception to foreign sovereign immunity. All non-U.S. plaintiffs were either government employees or military contractors, the lawsuit claims.

The Aug. 7 bombing at the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killed 11 people and injured more than 85 others. The truck bomb in Nairobi, Kenya, on the same day killed more than 210 people and injured more than 4,500.

The plaintiffs demand more than $1 billion in actual and punitive damages. They are represented by Edward MacAllister and Steven Perles.

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