ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A suspected U.S. missile strike Saturday may have killed a fugitive British citizen linked to a plot to blow up trans-Atlantic jetliners, Pakistani officials said. Three Pakistani intelligence officials said they believed Rashid Rauf, who escaped from Pakistani custody last year, was among five militants killed in a stronghold of the Taliban and al-Qaida (web|news) in the country's northwest. Rauf was accused of having contact with a group in Britain plotting to smuggle liquid explosives onto trans-Atlantic flights. The plot's detection in August 2006 prompted security alerts at airports worldwide and increased restrictions on carry-on items. A London jury convicted three men in the case in September.

The Taliban said all those killed in Saturday's pre-dawn attack in the village of Ali Khel were civilians. "None was a foreigner," Taliban spokesman Ahmedullah Ahmedi said in a statement delivered to reporters in Miran Shah, the region's main town. Three children were injured, he added.

A burst of U.S. cross-border attacks into Pakistan has killed dozens of suspected militants since August but has drawn angry protests from Pakistan's government, an uneasy ally in Washington's war on terrorist groups that is itself facing a wave of destabilizing violence.

Saturday's attack occurred in the North Waziristan region, part of the tribal belt where militants are supporting the growing insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan and a possible hiding place for al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden (news |bio) .

The intelligence officials, citing reports from field agents as well as intercepted militant communications, also said an Egyptian was killed. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the matter to news media.

Two of the officials said the targeted house in the village of Ali Khel belonged to a Pakistani Taliban commander named Khaliq Noor who was known to shelter foreign fighters.

Militants quickly cordoned off the area and one of the intelligence officials cautioned that government spies in the area had not seen any of the bodies.

In London, a Foreign Office spokesman said British officials were investigating the reports that Rauf was dead but could not confirm it.

Rauf, who is of Pakitani origin, has been on the run since December 2007, when he escaped from police escorting him back to jail after an extradition hearing at a court in Islamabad.

After his arrest in August 2006, Britain had sought his extradition, ostensibly as a suspect in the 2002 killing of his uncle there.

U.S. forces are suspected of having carried out about 20 missile attacks since August into northwestern Pakistan, a sharply increased pace that reflects frustration at Islamabad's efforts to tackle militants on its own soil.

Only six missile strikes were reported in Pakistan in the first seven months of the year, according to an Associated Press tally.

American authorities rarely confirm or deny individual attacks, which are apparently launched from unmanned aircraft prowling over the mountainous, cave-ridden border region.

Still, senior U.S. officials have defended the tactic and said it has eliminated several top al-Qaida operatives in recent months.

The strikes have continued despite Pakistani complaints that they are illegal and deepen the anti-American sentiment feeding Islamic extremism in the country.

However, President Asif Ali Zardari has made it clear that he will not break off cooperation - and has raised hopes that President-elect Barack Obama (web|news|bio) will soften U.S. policy after taking office.

Militants in North Waziristan threatened after a missile strike near the town of Bannu on Wednesday to launch revenge attacks on foreigners and Pakistani targets.

At about the same time as Saturday's missile strike, police said militants attacked a checkpoint in Bannu with rockets and gunfire, killing three officers.

Farther north, police said a bomb exploded in a mosque near the town of Hangu, injuring six people. The motive was unclear, though Hangu has been plagued by sectarian violence.

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Associated Press writers Bashirullah Khan in Miran Shah, Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Riaz Khan in Peshawar and Greg Katz in London contributed to this report.

Written By MUNIR AHMAD

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