GERMANY: Libya has agreed to pay $35 million in compensation for a bomb blast in a Berlin disco in 1986 that killed three people and injured 230. Chancellor Schröder announced an "upcoming visit" to Tripoli yesterday afternoon shortly after German and Libyan officials signed the compensation deal in Berlin, hammered out over the last months at a secret location.
However the compensation only extends to non-US citizens injured in the blast and the family of a dead Turkish woman. Families of two US soldiers killed in the bombing are pursuing separate legal actions.
The 1986 Berlin blast was organised by three former employees of the Libyan embassy in East Berlin. In retaliation, the US bombed two Libyan cities, killing 15 people, including the adopted daughter of the Libyan leader, Col Gaddafi.
Yesterday's agreement marks another step towards ending Libya's isolation, following its admission of responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing.