Families of twin towers victims sue 'al-Qa'ida backers'

Families of those killed in the terror attacks last September filed a trillion-dollar lawsuit yesterday against institutions and individuals they believe helped to finance al-Qa'ida and the Taliban regime that once ruled Afghanistan.

The suit, filed in a Washington DC court, lists as defendants the country of Sudan, three members of the Saudi royal family, including the Defence Minister, and many Islamic charities based in the United States and elsewhere. The three Saudi princes named in the suit are the former intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal al-Saud, the second deputy prime minister and Defence Minister Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, and Mohammed al-Faisal al-Saud.

Also listed in the suit are seven financial institutions, as well as the construction firm in Saudi Arabia owned by the family of Osama bin Laden, the head of the al-Qa'ida network whose whereabouts is unknown.

For the White House, the filing is a conundrum.

While it appears to fit with President George Bush's pledge to root out terrorism and abetters of terrorism, it will be perceived as an explicit assault on Saudi Arabia. America wants to retain the Kingdom as a key ally in the Middle East, in spite of its ties to the 11 September attacks. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals.

The Saudi government denies there is any link between senior officials and al-Qa'ida and has revoked Mr bin Laden's citizenship.

Calling itself the 9/11 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism, the group filing the action includes nationals of the United States, Canada, Argentina, South Africa and France. The complaint alleges Saudi money has "for years been funnelled to encourage radical anti-Americanism as well as to fund the al Qa'ida terrorists". It quotes from a briefing commissioned by aUS defence think-tank, which claimed last month that the Saudis were active at every level of the terror chain.

The plaintiffs include family members of those who perished in New York, at the Pentagon and in the plane crash in Pennsylvania, as well as rescue workers and firemen.

In the filing, the group said it was seeking money in excess of a trillion dollars "to force the sponsors of terror into the light and subject them to the rule of law".

Deena Burnett, whose husband was killed on flight 93 in Pennsylvania, said: "It's up to us, and I think we can do it. It's up to us to bankrupt the terrorists and those who finance them so they will never again have the resources to commit such atrocities against the American people."

The group's lawyer, Allan Gerson, expressed hope that many more families of victims would join the suit. He said the action was aimed at untangling the complicated financial transactions which funded the 11 September attacks.

Experts warned, however, that the suit was unlikely to be successful. The filing comes as the federal compensation fund set up to channel millions to victims' families is starting to make its first awards. One week ago, a family in New York was told that it would receive $1.04m (£680,000).