NAIROBI, Kenya - A Kenyan magistrate acquitted three men of conspiracy in the 2002 suicide bombing claimed by al Qaeda that killed 15 people at an Israeli-owned hotel.
"I have come to the conclusion that the prosecution has failed beyond reasonable doubt to prove its case," Chief Magistrate Aggrey Muchelule told the court.
"I find them not guilty and set them free."
He said there was no evidence the defendants - Salmin Mohammed Khamis, Mohammed Kubwa Seif and Said Saggar Ahmed - were linked to al Qaeda.
Three Israelis and 12 Kenyans were killed after two suicide bombers broke through barriers outside the Paradise Hotel with a four-wheel drive vehicle full of explosives on Nov. 28, 2002.
At almost the same time, a missile was fired at - but missed - an Israeli airliner leaving the airport in the nearby Kenyan resort town of Mombasa.
Muchelule issued the ruling almost three weeks after a Kenyan judge acquitted four other men charged with actually carrying out the bombing, saying prosecutors had failed to link them to the bombers or to al Qaeda.