9:41am UK, Saturday November 22, 2008

The alleged mastermind of a 2006 trans-Atlantic airplane bombing plot has been killed in a US missile attack in northwest Pakistan, officials have said.

Rashid Rauf at a court hearing in Pakistan in January 2007

British fugitive Rashid Rauf, an Egyptian terror suspect named as Abu Zubair al Masri and up to three others reportedly died in the attack in Waziristan.

A senior Pakistani security official told the AFPnews agency: ”The trans-Atlantic bombing plot alleged mastermind Rahsid Rauf was killed along with an Egyptian al Qaeda operative in the US missile strike in North Waziristan early on Saturday.”

Rauf had escaped from custody in Pakistan in 2007 while on the way to an extradition hearing.

Media reports in Pakistan said that the attack had been carried out by a pilot-less drone aircraft.

The UK government had requested Pakistan extradite Rauf to London, where he was wanted by police in connection with the murder of his uncle in 2002.

The arrest of the British-Pakistani citizen in 2006 sparked a worldwide security alert and 24 people were detained in Britain in a major swoop.

A day after the arrest there was a massive security alert at London’s Heathrow Airport, with mass cancellations of flights for several days over fears of a terrorist attack.

He and the Egyptian al Qaeda operative were killed along with at least two other militants in the house of a local tribesman in the village of Alikhel, part of a district known as a stronghold for al Qaeda and Taliban elements.

The missile strike came days after another US drone attack which killed six rebels, including an Arab al Qaeda operative.

That attack prompted Taliban militants based in the rugged tribal territory bordering Afghanistan to warn of reprisal attacks across Pakistan if there were more strikes by the US.

Terror network chief Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the tribal territory, although there is no clear information about his whereabouts.

Washington has apparently stepped up its missile strikes against suspected al Qaeda and Taliban hideouts in tribal areas, all using unmanned CIA drones.

The strikes have come despite warnings from Pakistan that such attacks violate international law and could deepen resentment of the United States in the world’s second-largest Islamic nation.

Pakistan has officially protested to the United States that strikes violate its sovereign territory, although some officials say there is a tacit understanding between the two militaries to allow such action.

President Asif Ali Zardari recently promised zero tolerance against violations of his country’s sovereignty.