Airline plot suspect may be dead

A U.S. missile strike may have killed a Pakistani British man who was implicated in an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners, Pakistani intelligence officials said Saturday.

Rashid Rauf, who has been a fugitive since escaping from Pakistani custody last December, was believed to be one of five militants killed in the strike near the border with Afghanistan, the officials said. Pakistani media also reported the death, citing security sources.

The alleged 2006 airline plot, which officials said centered on liquid explosives, has affected millions of air travelers around the world, prompting tighter restrictions on carry-on items on commercial flights. A British court in September convicted three men originally charged in the case on murder charges, but acquitted the alleged ringleader and failed to reach a verdict on the charge that they planned to bomb airliners. Authorities considered the verdict inconclusive and have sought a retrial of the principals.

In the last three months, American forces have carried out more than 20 missile attacks aimed at militants sheltering in Pakistan’s tribal areas, along the border with Afghanistan. U.S. officials generally decline to confirm or deny responsibility for the attacks.

Pakistan has repeatedly protested the strikes, and the new civilian government has angrily denied reports that it has given the Bush administration a tacit go-ahead to carry out the raids.

Saturday’s took place before dawn in North Waziristan, a militant stronghold and the suspected hiding place of a number of senior Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders. The attack, in the village of Ali Khel, targeted a home belonging to a Pakistani Taliban commander.

A Taliban spokesman denied that any of those killed were militants. The spokesman, Ahmedullah Ahmedi, said three people were killed, all civilians.

The reports of Rauf’s death could not be confirmed, in part because militants quickly sealed off the area, keeping even villagers well away from the scene.

Rauf escaped from Pakistani custody under circumstances that led many Western officials to believe that elements in the Pakistani security apparatus had helped him get away. At the time of his disappearance, he was being taken back to jail by Pakistani police after a court hearing on whether he should be extradited to Britain, where he was a suspect in a murder case.

British officials were infuriated by the escape. They had hoped that questioning him would shed light on questions surrounding the airline plot. Intelligence officials suggested he had links to a number of plots, including an attempted subway bombing in London in 2005.

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laura.king@latimes.com

Times staff writer Sebastian Rotella in New York and special correspondent Zulfiqar Ali in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.