Pakistani police hunt escaped British bomb suspect

ISLAMABAD-Pakistani authorities have detained two relatives of a Pakistani-British man suspected of involvement in an al Qaeda plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners, after he escaped from police custody, the man's lawyer said.Rashid Rauf, wanted by British authorities, escaped on Saturday from outside an Islamabad court where he had been brought under police security for an extradition proceeding."I spoke to his family and they said two of his uncles have been arrested and his house in Bahawalpur was raided," Rauf's lawyer, Hashmat Habib, told Reuters on Monday, referring to the eastern Pakistani city where Rauf lived.Rauf's escape is a major embarrassment for the government of President Pervez Musharraf, who hours earlier had lifted a six-week state of emergency.Musharraf cited rising militant violence, as well as a meddling judiciary, when he imposed a state of emergency on November 3. Hours after lifting the emergency, he said the government had "broken the back" of militancy."These things do happen ... there will always be human failure," Information Minister Nisar Memon told reporters when asked about Rauf's escape.Authorities have not given details of how he escaped, but the government has formed an inquiry to investigate the incident while police search for him.A spokesmen for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London said the British High Commission in Islamabad was in close touch with the Pakistani authorities about the escape."The High Commissioner spoke yesterday to the interim interior minister of Pakistan and was assured Rauf's recapture was a priority for them and that they had set up an inquiry into how the escape had happened," the spokesman said.Arrested in Pakistan in August last year, Rauf was identified by Pakistani officials as a key figure in a plot to carry out suicide bombings on airliners traveling from London to the United States.But his case has run into a legal quagmire and is being dealt with by higher and lower courts simultaneously. Pakistan newspapers had reported that he was going to be sent back to Britain.According to reports, Rauf had left Britain and traveled to Pakistan in 2002 after the murder in Britain of an uncle.Britain had sought his extradition in connection with an investigation into the murder. Pakistan had said it was considering the request.An anti-terrorism court dropped terrorism charges against Rauf in December last year, citing a lack of evidence, and referred lesser charges, including the possession of explosives, to the civil court.
But a high court in Lahore, acting on a plea from the government, later suspended the trail in a move aimed at getting the case referred back to the anti-terrorism court.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071217/ts_nm/pakistan_britain_dc;_ylt=AnRnnql3enRaG3el1M2DuzZZ.3QA

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