US Supreme Court allows bigger award in 1998 embassy bombing case


PTI | Washington DC | Updated: 18-05-2020 21:17 IST | Created: 18-05-2020 20:26 IST
US Supreme Court allows bigger award in 1998 embassy bombing case
Representative Image Image Credit: Flickr
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The Supreme Court is allowing a bigger award of money to victims of the 1998 bombings by al-Qaida of the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Despite the court's ruling, however, it's unlikely the victims will ever collect the full amount. The nearly simultaneous truck bombings at the embassies killed 224 people and injured thousands. They were the first major attacks on US targets by al-Qaida.

The case the Supreme Court ruled in involves lawsuits filed by victims and their families against Sudan that accused the country of causing the bombings by aiding al-Qaida and leader Osama bin Laden, who lived in Sudan in the 1990s. The more than 500 people involved in the case are mostly foreign citizens, either US government employees or contractors injured in the bombings or relatives of those who died. A court initially awarded the group more than $10 billion, but an appeals court threw out $4 billion of the award that was punitive damages. The Supreme Court unanimously vacated the appeals court's ruling on Monday.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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