U.S.: Qaeda Suspects Escaped

NAIROBI, Kenya — Three key Al Qaeda suspects targeted by an American airstrike in Somalia were still on the run yesterday, a senior American official said, as America faced claims that the attack had killed scores of civilians.

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Abu Talha al-Sudani, and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan escaped unharmed after Monday's attack on villages in southern Somalia. Their whereabouts were still unclear.

Kenyan police said they had arrested the wives and children of two of the men as they tried to cross the border from Somalia. They have been taken to Nairobi for questioning. Witnesses have reported that America and its Ethiopian allies in Somalia have killed more than 100 civilians in three days of air attacks, a claim denied by the American official.

A U.S. Special Forces AC130U gunship mounted the early-morning attack on villages close to Ras Kamboni, which is believed to be the last stronghold of the Islamic Courts Union, an Islamist alliance beaten from power by Somalia's government and Ethiopia two weeks ago.