Finances have long been a target of anti-terrorist efforts. We freeze bank accounts of terrorist groups and problem nations. We similarly prosecute domestic sources of funding for external terrorists.
Similarly, we've shown in Afghanistan, and to a lesser extent in Libya in the 80s, that attacking the host nation of a terrorist group can be a valid approach when you cannot otherwise reach that group.
Families of sailors killed in the suicide bombing of the USS Cole (in 2000, if you've forgotten) are combining these concepts to sue the government of Sudan for $105 million in damages. Their assertion is that Sudan facilitated the attac by providing material and diplomatic support for those who actually carried out the suicide bombing. Notably, the government of Sudan has not just blown the case off, and actually has lawyers in court contesting it. I was especially struck by this:
Sudan, which the US has listed as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1993, had sought unsuccessfully to dismiss the civil lawsuit on the grounds that too much time had passed between the bombing and the filing of the lawsuit in 2004.
I'm not clear why they're playing ball by even sending lawyers, but it may or may not be telling that they actually tried to get the case thrown out on a statute of limitations claim, as it were.