Four convicted in disco bombing

BERLIN -- A Berlin court convicted four people Tuesday in the 1986 bombing of a West Berlin disco that killed two U.S. soldiers and a Turkish woman. The United States blamed the attack on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi -- a charge the court said was not proven.

The court said the bombing was planned by members of the Libyan secret service and workers at the Libyan Embassy in then-East Berlin. But Judge Peter Marhofer said prosecutors failed to prove Gadhafi ordered the attack.

The court said four defendants plotted the attack but found only Verena Chanaa, a 42-year-old German, guilty of murder. She was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

A fifth defendant was acquitted for lack of evidence.

The April 5, 1986, explosion at the La Belle disco killed Sgt. Kenneth T. Ford, 21, and Nermin Hannay, a 29-year-old Turkish woman, immediately. Sgt. James E. Goins, 25, died later of his injuries, and 229 people were wounded.