A US court has ordered Sudan to pay $8m (£4m) to the families of 17 marines who died in a suicide bomb attack on the USS Cole warship in Yemen in 2000.Robert Doumar, a Virginia federal court judge, said there was enough evidence that Sudan had helped al-Qaeda, the terrorist group blamed for the attack. Sudan has denied any links with al-Qaeda and made several unsuccessful attempts to have the case dismissed. A lawyer for the families said he was "thrilled" with the court's decision. The families of the victims had initially sued the government in Khartoum for $105m.
In a written ruling, the judge said: "It is depressing to realise that a country organised on a religious basis with religious rule of law could and would execute its power for purposes which most countries would find intolerable and loathsome."