U.S.: Attack in Somalia didn't kill 3 al-Qaida suspects

NAIROBI, Kenya — None of the three most-wanted al-Qaida suspects believed to be hiding inside southern Somalia was killed by a U.S. airstrike this week, a senior U.S. official in Nairobi said Thursday.

"The three high-value targets are still of intense interest to us," said the official, who requested anonymity.

The attack Sunday night by a U.S. Air Force AC-130 killed eight to 10 people believed to be tied to al-Qaida, the official said.

Previous reports from other U.S. and Somali sources suggested that among the dead might be suspects in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, or the 2002 bombing of a Kenyan seaside resort and a subsequent missile attack against an Israeli airliner.

In an interview Thursday with BBC's Somali-language news service, U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger confirmed that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who is wanted by the FBI for his alleged role in the 1998 attack, has not been captured or killed.

According to the senior official, the other two al-Qaida suspects are also at large, likely hiding in Somalia. They are Abu Taha al-Sudani, of Sudan, who is accused of planning the 2002 Paradise Hotel bombing in Kenya, and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, of Kenya, also wanted in connection with the hotel attack.

The official said the three men were not the primary objective of Sunday's U.S. attack, which was aimed at a separate but "significant" al-Qaida affiliate who was moving with a group of about 20 individuals.

Amid mounting criticism over reports of ongoing U.S. airstrikes and claims that scores of civilians have died, Ranneberger said Thursday that the U.S. launched a single strike and there were no civilian casualties.

U.S. involvement in Somalia, its first overt military intervention in the country since 1994, has set off a flurry of criticism and anti-U.S. sentiment throughout East Africa. The banner headline Tuesday in one of Kenya's largest daily newspapers read: "U.S. Warplane Rains Death on Somalia."

Somali government officials and witnesses claim scores of civilians have been killed by airstrikes in more than six villages around southern Somalia. Officials suspect Ethiopia, which sent 4,000 troops to Somalia last month, may be involved. The Ethiopian government has not commented.

Watira Suldan Farah, mother of five, said Thursday she fled her village of Butiya shortly before it was attacked Wednesday by a "large white plane with a black tail. I don't know what kind of plane it was."

Another report claimed that five clan elders trying to reach the port city of Kismayo on Wednesday were shot to death by a gunship.

"We are victims," said Hussein Tarabi, who said he lost 30 cattle in an airstrike against his village Wednesday. "We ask the U.S. government to stop the genocide and give us compensation."

On Wednesday, watchdog group Amnesty International said the reports of heavy civilian casualties raised questions about whether the U.S. military had violated international law.

But U.S. officials insisted they had not carried out additional airstrikes since Sunday. The senior official said it was possible Ethiopia was engaged in air attacks in pursuit of fighters with Somalia's Islamic Courts Union movement.