IRA victims launch class action against Libya in American courts

Victims of IRA violence have launched a multi-billion pound law suit against Libya in the American courts. They claim Colonel Gaddafi's Libyan regime helped the IRA by supplying them with money, Semtex and other weapons.

The bomb victims are suing Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi

The lawyer behind the action, Jason McCue, explained the reason for the action in Washington DC. "What we're trying to achieve is to get some justice for these 170 people who have not received any over the last 20 or 30 years," Mr McCue said. "The idea of state sponsors of terrorism - the way you deter them from doing it is to hit them in the pocket."

The litigants include Colin Parry whose son died in the 1993 Warrington bomb. Earlier this month, Mr McCue said the case would take into account 10 IRA attacks, including the Enniskillen Remembrance Day bombing in 1987, which killed 11. The Harrods bomb of 1983 which claimed the lives of six people and the Manchester bomb of 1996, in which no-one died, also form part of the case.

Mr McCue said the lawsuits were based on any attack where Semtex allegedly supplied by Libya was used for a bomb or to boost a fertiliser bomb. He said UK victims of the IRA were able to take action in a US court if they joined a legal action being brought by US citizens.

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