Libya 'to pay Berlin bomb victims'
( 2003-08-17 11:12) (Agencies)
Libya is set to compensate non-American victims of the 1986 bombing of a Berlin disco used by U.S. soldiers, a German magazine reported on Saturday, a day after it accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie plane bomb.
In a report issued ahead of publication on Sunday, Der Spiegel said Libya had told the German government months ago it was ready to make payments to victims.
Two U.S. soldiers and a Turkish woman were killed and more than 200 people were injured in the bombing of the West Berlin La Belle nightclub that prompted the United States to launch reprisal bombings on Libyan cities.
Der Spiegel quoted Burkhard Koetke, one of a group of lawyers representing 67 non-American victims of the bombing, as saying: "We are hopeful the matter will be concluded this year."
In a proposal made to the German Foreign Ministry for negotiations with Tripoli, the lawyers sought 500,000 euros for each injured person and a million euros each for the families of the dead Turkish woman and the disco owner, the magazine said.
A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman declined comment on the report, but said the German government still expected Libya would meet all responsibilities.
A Berlin court ruled in 2001 the Libyan secret service was behind the attack, which occurred a month after the United States sank two Libyan patrol boats in the Gulf of Sirte.
Der Spiegel said agreeing compensation for the U.S. victims of the blast would be much more difficult. A claim had been filed in the United States for $3 billion, it said.
Libya informed the United Nations on Friday it accepted responsibility "for the actions of its officials" in the bombing of an airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 in which 270 people were killed.
The admission could pave the way for compensation of up to $10 million for each of the Lockerbie victims' families and the lifting of U.N. economic sanctions imposed on Libya in 1992.
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