Rashid Rauf of Birmingham, UK, alleged mastermind of a 2006 plot [2] to blow up transatlantic jets using liquid bombs, was one of five people reported killed Nov. 22 by a presumed US missile attack in the North Waziristan region in Pakistan's Tribal Areas. Unnamed Pakistani intelligence sources said that a wanted Egyptian militant, Abu Zubair al-Masri, was among the others killed.
Three men were convicted in the UK this September in the supposed liquid bomb plot. Rauf was arrested in Pakistan in August 2006 at the request of US authorities. Terrorism charges were eventually dropped, but he remained under detention in Pakistan as a "preventative measure." West Midlands Police in the UK were seeking Rauf's extradition from Pakistan as a suspect in the murder of his uncle, who was killed six years ago. Rauf escaped custody in December 2007 while on his way to an extradition hearing under police guard. (BBC [3], Nov. 23)
