New York, May 7 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. judge concluded that the government of Iraq aided Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda in the attack that destroyed the World Trade Center and ordered them to pay $104 million to the families of two victims who died.

``The opinion testimony of the plaintiffs' experts is sufficient to meet plaintiffs' burden that Iraq collaborated in or supported bin Laden/al-Qaeda's terrorist acts,'' U.S. District Judge Harold Baer said.

Baer in January issued judgments in the civil suit against bin Laden and the other defendants, including members of the Taliban, Afghanistan's former rulers. None appeared in court to defend the case. The plaintiffs offered evidence from former CIA director James Woolsey and author Laurie Mylroie, who wrote two books on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, linking Iraq to bin Laden.

Baer awarded $93 million to the family of Timothy Soulas, a senior managing director at Cantor Fitzgerald Securities who was 35 and earned $850,000 in 2001, the judge said. Soulas's wife was pregnant with their sixth child. The family lived in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

George Eric Smith's family was awarded $11 million. Smith was a senior business analyst for SunGard Asset Management, a unit of Wayne, Pennsylvania-based SunGard Data Systems Inc. Smith was 38 and single at the time of his death and earned $70,000. He lived in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

This suit is separate from two much larger cases against scores of defendants, including Arab banks, Islamic charities, al- Qaeda operatives, and the governments of Iran and Sudan.

Baer didn't say in his ruling today how the families would go about collecting on the judgment.

Last Updated: May 7, 2003 13:49 EDT