No other casualties were reported, but the whereabouts of some occupants of the house were unknown.

Mayor W. Wilson Goode said this evening that a 9-year-old left the building with a woman, identified as Ramona Africa, shortly after the fire began. The child, who was taken to a hospital, told the police there were four or five adults and four or five children in the house when the bomb was dropped, the Mayor said at a City Hall news conference. The child was not identified, but the police said the woman was in custody.

Leo Brooks, the City Managing Director, said tonight at the scene that one of the first things the authorities wanted to do Tuesday was to search the charred area.

A Fire Department officer, who requested anonymity, said the authorities did not know where the other children were.

Mayor 'Saddened' by Fire

The Mayor said that three armed adults had been in an alley behind the house, where they were firing at the police. He said there were no known deaths and that he was heartened by that, but he was ''saddened'' by reports that many homes had been destroyed by the blaze spreading from the house that was bombed.

A Fire Department officer at the scene this evening had said houses burned on both sides of the street in the 6200 block of Osage Avenue, where the Move headquarters was situated, and houses in the block behind it on Pine Street.

The Mayor, when asked why the bomb was dropped, said, ''It was an attempt to remove the bunker,'' the structure on the roof of the house.

He repeatedly took responsibility for the outcome, although he said he had given his department heads complete freedom to decide on the tactics they thought best. ''As Mayor of this city I accept full and total responsibility,'' Mr. Goode said. ''There was no way to avoid it. No way to extract ourselves from that situation except by armed confrontation.''