Insurers sue '9/11 plotters'

The attacks caused billions of dollars of damage

Insurance companies in the United States have filed lawsuits against al-Qaeda and others for losses caused by the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Thirty firms filed in New York and Washington courts on Wednesday to recover the financial costs of the attacks and punitive damages.

The companies allege al-Qaeda and other organisations, as well as some countries and individuals, were responsible for the attacks.

Lawyers for the groups are seeking to claim some of the money from assets of organisations frozen by the US Government as part of its so-called war on terror.

Countries accused

The complaint names Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria and Saudi Arabia as among the countries which made the attacks possible.

In a sense, our clients are joining the global fight against terrorism Stephen A Cozen, lawyer

"Absent the material support and resources provided by the co-defendants, both directly and indirectly, al-Qaeda would not have possessed the financial resources, physical assets, membership base, technological knowledge, communication skills, and global reach required to conceive, plan and execute the 11 September attack," the 78-page complaint claims.

It says the attacks were a "product... of a conspiracy among the defendants to commit acts of international terrorism against the United States, its nationals and its allies".

The insurers are claiming $300bn, of which they hope to recoup up to $3bn from accounts frozen by the US Government.

They say they have paid out $4bn in insurance claims resulting from the attacks.

Fight against terror

Dozens of defendants are named in the complaint, which names individuals including Osama Bin Laden, the head of the al-Qaeda network.

The Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organisation are among groups named in the lawsuit.

"In a sense, our clients are joining the global fight against terrorism," said Stephen A Cozen, a lawyer for the companies.

Earlier on Wednesday, a US federal judge cleared the way for relatives of victims of the attacks to proceed with negligence lawsuits against airlines and the owners of the World Trade Center.