(CNN)Sudan will pay a $30 million settlement to the families of 17 US Navy sailors killed in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in a bid to get itself removed from the United States' list of state sponsors of terrorism, Sudanese officials said.
Sudan's government "explicitly denies" its involvement in the attack and says the payout announced Wednesday is intended to "settle the historical allegations of terrorism left by the former regime." The country's longtime President Omar al-Bashir was ousted in a military coup in April following a lengthy popular uprising.
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said the agreement was made "to meet the conditions set by the US administration to remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism in order to normalize relations with the United States and the rest of the world."