TUI not Liable for al Qaeda Attack

A German court ruled on Wednesday that a six-year-old boy badly burnt in an attack on tourists in Tunisia two years ago has no right to compensation from Europe's biggest travel group TUI. The judges said TUI could not be blamed for failing to warn people that travelling to the Tunisian resort Djerba was dangerous at that time of the attack in April 2002. The boy, named only as Adrian, was among dozens of German tourists visiting the Ghriba synagogue in Djerba when a truck bomb exploded outside killing 21 people, 14 of them Germans, in an attack linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Adrian was left with 40 percent burns and has needed more than 30 operations. TUI had warned that if it were forced to pay compensation in this case, it would set a legal precedent that would make travel groups liable for any unpredictable event and could signal the end of package tourism. Adrian's parents, who had travelled with TUI's offshoot 1-2-FLY, were seeking damages of €100,000 ($120,000) from the group plus a monthly payment of €800 ($960). (AFP)