NAIROBI, Kenya — Sudan’s interim government said on Thursday that it had reached a financial settlement with families of the victims of the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen, an effort to persuade the United States to remove Sudan from a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Seventeen sailors died and another 39 were wounded in the attack, which took place in 2000. Sudanese officials said a settlement had been reached with the families on Feb. 7, but did not specify how much compensation would be given.

There was no confirmation of a deal from American officials. A spokesman for the U.S. State Department on Thursday morning in Washington had no immediate comment.

The U.S.S. Cole, a Navy destroyer, was attacked by suicide bombers in an explosive-laden skiff as the destroyer was preparing to refuel in the Yemeni port of Aden on Oct. 12, 2000. The terrorist group Al Qaeda claimed responsibility.