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Reports: Pakistan Strike Kills Terror Plot Suspect


Pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. missile strike has killed a fugitive militant from Britain linked to a 2006 terror plot to blow up transatlantic airliners.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Rashid Rauf was among five militants killed in the missile attackon Saturday. They said an Egyptian al-Qaida operative, Abu Zubair al-Misri may also have been killed in the strike.

Western authorities say Rauf played a key role in a plan to blow up passenger flights between Britain and the United States using liquid explosives. Rauf escaped from Pakistani authorities in December of 2007. Pakistani authorities say a U.S. drone today (Saturday) targeted a militant hideout (in the village of Alikhel) in the tribal area of North Waziristan. Authorities say a missile struck the home of Taliban commander Khaliq Noor.

The Pakistani government has strongly condemned the suspected U.S. strikes in their country, saying they undermine Pakistan's counter-terrorism efforts. rest opt U.S. officials have neither confirmed nor denied the recent missile attacks. A spokesman at the British Foreign Office in London said today that the office is investigating reports of Rauf's death. The spokesman said the office cannot yet confirm the incident.

The United States has been pressuring Pakistan to do more to fight militants in its northwest, a region the U.S. considers a haven for al-Qaida and Taliban-linked fighters.

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