Libyan offer to Berlin victims

The 1986 bombing devastated a Berlin disco

A charity headed by the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has offered to pay compensation to relatives of the victims of a disco bombing that killed three people in Berlin in 1986.

The Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Organisations described the move as a "gesture of humanity", in a statement issued in the German capital.

The charity said it implied no acceptance of responsibility for the attack.

The bombing of the La Belle nightclub, which was popular with US servicemen, killed two American soldiers and a Turkish woman. About 250 people were also wounded.

The attack was blamed by Washington on Tripoli and prompted US air strikes against two Libyan cities 10 days later.

After the fall of the Berlin wall, archives from the secret services of East Germany led investigators to staff at the Libyan embassy in the former communist country.

Four people - including three Libyan agents - were convicted in connection with the bombing in 2001.

Payout

The Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Organisations has declined to give details of how much money will be involved or who would receive compensation.

Seif Gaddafi insists his charity is independent from the state

However a spokesman told Reuters news agency that payments would not include any money from the Libyan state.

The foundation is headed by Seif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader - who insists the organisation in entirely independent from the Tripoli government.

On 14 August Libya accepted responsibility for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland and agreed to pay up to $10m to each of the families of the 270 victims.

The move paves the way for the lifting of United Nations sanctions on the country.

However, France has raised objections to this, and has demanded that Libya increase the compensation it is paying to the families of those killed in the 1989 bombing of a French airliner.