Somalia strike misses top al Qaeda suspects: U.S.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A U.S. air strike in Somalia missed its main target of three top al Qaeda suspects but killed up to 10 of their allies, a senior American official said on Thursday.

A U.S. warplane attacked a village in southern Somalia on Monday in an attempt to destroy an al Qaeda cell accused of bombing two U.S. embassies and an Israeli-owned hotel in east Africa.

The strike killed eight to 10 "terrorist targets" but the United States is still pursuing the three most wanted suspects, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

U.S. ally Ethiopia, which led a swift military offensive before the New Year to oust Islamists who threatened to overrun the country's interim government, continued air attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday in pursuit of fleeing fighters.

The first overt U.S. military action in Somalia for more than a decade had targeted Comorian Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Sudanese Abu Talha al-Sudani and Kenyan Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who were believed to be hiding among the fleeing Islamists.

The U.S. official, based in east Africa, rejected Somali reports that dozens of civilians were killed. He said the dead were in a group of about 20 militants targeted in the strike.

"All I can say...is that it was a targeted strike at al Qaeda connected or affiliated people," he said. "We and the Ethiopians and everyone else wants to interdict terrorists."

A U.S. official in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity said an Ethiopian air strike may have hit one of the top three.

"It's possible -- possible -- that Sudani was killed in an attack by military forces from another country. That's the current thinking," the official in Washington said.

An intelligence official, also in Washington, said "it is believed" that hardline Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys and his Afghanistan-trained protege Aden Hashi Farah Ayro were among the al Qaeda affiliates targeted by the U.S. strike.

WIVES QUESTIONED

The Pentagon denied it had mounted any strikes after Monday, and the official in east Africa dismissed reports that U.S. special forces were in Somalia.