Khartoum – Sudan’s Government, on Thursday reached a settlement with the families of the victims of a 2000 terrorist attack on U.S. soldiers in Yemen, the Ministry of Justice said.
Suicide bombers had killed 17 soldiers on the U.S. destroyer USS Cole in the Yemeni port city of Aden in 2000.
Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda was held responsible for the attack, with the Sudanese Government accused of supporting the jihadists.
The Ministry of Justice said Sudan’s Government and the victims’ families had signed a settlement agreement, without disclosing the details of the deal.
In the agreement, reached to settle long-standing allegations of terrorism against the government of former president Omar al-Bashir, Sudan however, explicitly denies responsibility for the 2000 attack.
Sudan hopes to be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, which has had major economic disadvantages for the poverty-stricken nation whose revenue depends on oil exports.
During the reign of al-Bashir, who was ousted in April 2019, Sudan had long-standing ties to al-Qaeda, with its former leader Osama bin Laden spending several years in the East African nation.
The terrorist group is also said to have a training camp in Sudan.
(dpa/NAN)