The Berlin discotheque bombing of April 5, 1986 was a terrorist attack on the West Berlin La Belle discotheque that was frequented by U.S. soldiers. A bomb placed under a table near the DJ booth exploded at the club, killing a Turkish woman and two U.S. servicemen and injuring 230 people, including more than 50 American servicemen. Nermin Hannay and U.S. Sgt Kenneth T. Ford died instantly. Sgt James E. Goins died two months later. Of the injured victims, some were permanently disabled. April 5 is the 95th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (96th in leap years). ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Boroughs of West Berlin West Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. ... For other meanings of DJ, see DJ (disambiguation). ... Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organisations around the world. ...

Blame and retribution

Libya was blamed for the bombing after telex messages had been intercepted from Libya's East Berlin embassy, and the then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan retaliated by ordering airstrikes against the Libyan capital of Tripoli and city of Benghazi—see Operation El Dorado Canyon. At least 15 people died in the U.S. airstrikes on Libya – including leader Colonel Gaddafi's adopted 15-month old daughter – and more than 100 were injured. East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... Tripoli (Arabic: طرابلس Tarābulus) is the capital city of Libya. ... Benghazi (Arabic بنغازي, transliterated BanġāzÄ«) is a seaport in Libya, Africa. ... Operation El Dorado Canyon was the name of the joint United States Air Force and Navy air-strikes against Libya on April 15, 1986. ... Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qaddafi 1 — pronounced Gaddafi — (Arabic: معمر القذافي ) (born c. ...

Trial and conviction

In 2001, a Libyan diplomat, Musbah Abdulghasem Eter, and two Palestinians, Yasser Mohammed Chreidi (or Yassar Al-Shuraidi or Yassir Chraidi) and Ali Chanaa were convicted in Berlin's Superior Court of aiding in murder, and Chanaa's former German wife, Mrs Verena Channa, was convicted of murder. They were given sentences of 12 to 14 years in prison.

Background to the bombing

The judge said it was not clear whether Gaddafi or Libyan intelligence had actually ordered the attack, though there were indications they had. Two weeks before the La Belle discotheque blast, Gaddafi called for Arab assaults on American interests worldwide after a U.S.-Libyan naval clash in the Mediterranean, in which 35 seamen on a Libyan patrol boat in the Gulf of Sidra were killed in international waters. The Gulf of Sidra is a body of water in the Mediterranean Sea of the northern coast of Libya; it is also known as Gulf of Sirte. ...

Chreidi was eventually extradited from Libya to Germany in connection with the bombing. He had been working for the Libyan Peoples' Bureau in East Berlin at the time of the bombing. Chreidi was said to have connections with Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal, who used to live in Tripoli and was financed by Libya in the 1980s. Eter was reported to be the Libyan spy agency's point man at the embassy in what was then Communist East Berlin. Abu Nidal in 1976 in a photograph released by the Israeli army, one of only a handful of photographs of him known to exist. ...

Compensation

On August 17, 2003 it was reported that Libya had signalled to the German government that it was ready to negotiate compensation for the bombing with lawyers for non-U.S. victims. A year later, on August 10, 2004, Libya concluded an agreement to pay a total of $35 million compensation. August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 10 is the 222nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• The Berlin verdict
• $35 million compensation

Coordinates: 52°28′23″N, 13°20′12″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...