Rashid Rauf (ca. 1981 – 22 November 2008) was an alleged
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
operative. He was a
dual citizen
Dual or Duals may refer to:
Paired/two things
* Dual (mathematics), a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another
** Dual (category theory), a formalization of mathematical duality
*** see more cases in :Duality theories
* Dual (grammatical ...
of Britain and
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
who was arrested in
Bhawalpur, Pakistan in connection with the
2006 transatlantic aircraft plot
The 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives, carried aboard airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada, disguised as soft drinks. The plot was discovered by British M ...
in August 2006, a day before some arrests were made in Britain. The Pakistani Interior Minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, claimed that "he is an al Qaeda operative with linkages in Afghanistan". He was identified as one of the ringleaders of the alleged plot. In December 2006, the anti-terrorism court in
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...
found no evidence that he had been involved in terrorist activities, and his charges were downgraded to forgery and possession of explosives. A 2022 article offers an assessment of the impact of Operation Overt and refers to Rauf's alleged role
Rauf was born in England to Pakistani parents, and brought up in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
where his father was a baker. Rauf was married to a relative of
Maulana Masood Azhar
Mohammad Masood Azhar Alvi is a radical Islamist and terrorist, being the founder and leader of the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed, active mainly in the Pakistani-administered portion of the Kashmir region. His actions ...
, who is the head and founder of
Jaish-e-Mohammed
Jaish-e-Mohammed ( ur, , literally "The Army of Muhammad", abbreviated as JeM) is a Pakistan-based: "The JEM is a Pakistan-based, militant Islamic group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in March 2000."
Deobandi: "Deobandis like Masood Azha ...
, an Islamist militant group in Pakistan.
Rauf escaped from custody in December 2007. He was reportedly killed by a US
drone attack
Drone warfare is a form of aerial warfare using unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The United States, United Kingdom, Israel, China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, India, Pakis ...
in Pakistan on 22 November 2008, carried out by the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
's
Special Activities Division
The Special Activities Center (SAC) is a division of the United States Central Intelligence Agency responsible for covert operation, covert and paramilitary operations. The unit was named Special Activities Division (SAD) prior to 2015. Within S ...
. The report was based on communications intercepted from militants in North Waziristan. His family initially denied that he was killed.
While CIA and Pakistan intelligence officials maintained that Rauf was killed in the airstrike,
the news site
Long War Journal
''FDD's Long War Journal'' (LWJ) is an American news website, also described as a blog, which reports on the War on terror. The site is operated by Public Multimedia Incorporated (PMI), a non-profit media organization established in 2007. PMI i ...
believed otherwise.
On 11 August 2009, ''Asia Times Online'' claimed that Rauf was alive and living in
North Waziristan
North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanis ...
. On 8 July 2010, however, a US counterterrorism official told the New York Daily News that Rauf was killed. Some of Rauf's associates also believe that he never escaped from prison in 2007 and that he might have been dead long before the airstrike; Hashmat Malik, a lawyer representing the family of Rauf's wife Umat al-Warood, has also argued that Rauf was probably killed during a prison shootout at the time of his alleged escape.
British security sources also believed he might still be alive.
On 27 October 2012, Rauf's family officially confirmed that he was killed in a US drone strike.
A family friend also told the
Sunday Mercury that Rauf's family was filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the British government, claiming that "They want justice for their son who was killed in murky circumstances that amount to cold-blooded murder. Rashid never had a chance to defend or explain himself. He was accused of some heinous crimes and without any trial, judge or jury he was blown to pieces by a unmanned Predator drone aircraft controlled by a soldier sitting thousands of miles away in the US. The Americans could not have found and killed him without help from British intelligence officers who shared information."
Timeline
12 August 2006: US and British sources said Rauf had a key role in the
2006 transatlantic aircraft plot
The 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives, carried aboard airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada, disguised as soft drinks. The plot was discovered by British M ...
.
[ Rauf, a British citizen, appeared before a Pakistani magistrate, according to Pakistan's Interior Ministry. Rauf is believed to have left the UK after his uncle was killed in 2002. He was not charged over the murder, which has never been solved. In 2011 German authorities detained a 22-year-old Austrian named Maqsood Lodin on his arrival in Berlin, a body search discovered memory devices, with more than 100 al Qaeda documents that included an inside track on some of the terror group's most audacious plots and a road map for future operations. One document was assessed as being written by Rauf, regarding Operation Overt (trans-Atlantic ocean airliner bomb plot in August 2006). See also UK assessment
15 August: Pakistan said it might extradite Rauf to Britain, although no request had been received, according to The ]Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
.[UK police search for explosives]
CNN
17 August: Pakistani intelligence claimed that the alleged UK aircraft plot was sanctioned by al Qaeda's then-number two, Ayman al Zawahri. They said investigations indicated that Rauf was the planner of the alleged attacks. "We have reason to believe that it was al Qaeda sanctioned and was probably cleared by al Zawahri", said a Pakistani official.[Al-Qaeda Sanctioned Plot]
Sky News
19 August: After two weeks of interrogation and a careful search of his house, too little evidence had been found to justify his extradition.
22 August: In Pakistan, law enforcement authorities continued to interrogate Rauf over his role in the plot. Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said British police were conducting inquiries in Pakistan but were not involved in questioning Rauf.
CNN
26 August: Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao
Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao (آفتاب احمد خان شېرپاؤ; born 20 August 1944) is a Pakistani politician who is the current chairman of the centre-left Pashtun nationalist Qaumi Watan Party, after previously being a member of the Paki ...
said Rauf had "wider international links" and was in touch with an Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
-based al-Qaida
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countri ...
leader. He did not offer any evidence to back up his claim. Pakistan has withheld information about at least seven suspects, whom security officials say were arrested on Rauf's information. Pakistan has no extradition treaty with Britain, but Sherpao said they would consider deporting Rauf to London if a request was made. Rauf, in his mid-20s, is believed to have been interrogated by Pakistan agents near the capital, Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...
.[Airline terror pilot suspect gives 'vital clues']
Evening Echo
13 December: Terrorism charges against Rauf are dropped. The Pakistani court finds there is no evidence that he is involved in terrorism. The British government stated this did not affect their proceedings against the other suspects.
14 December 2007: Rauf allegedly escaped from jail. Authorities say he escaped after freeing himself from handcuffs. The two police officials on duty were arrested by Islamabad police. The police also tightened security at public transport routes and especially in Rauf's native town, Mirpur. A month after this report surfaced, Rauf's lawyer denied he had escaped and said he was probably still in custody.
2008: Rauf had contact with Bryant Neal Vinas and other named al-Qaeda leaders before the 19th August 2008 attack on Forward Operating Base Salerno, an American who joined al-Qaeda. Vinas was captured in November 2008, and convicted of participating in and supporting al-Qaeda plots in Afghanistan and the US[Rotella, Sebastian and Josh Meye]
U.S.-born militant who fought for Al Qaeda is in custody
''Los Angeles Times''. 22 July 2009.[Rashbaum, William K. and Souad Mekhennet]
''New York Times'' 22 July 2009
22 November 2008: Rauf is reportedly killed in a US missile strike in Pakistan. After the Pakistan government failed to hand over his body, his family disputed the reports and believed he was still alive.
8 April 2009: British security sources claim Rauf was the mastermind behind an alleged terror cell, the members of which were arrested in North West England. It is unclear whether they thought he was still alive at this time.
27 October 2012: Rauf's family confirmed that he was killed in a US drone strike and announced that they planned to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the British government, accusing them of assisting the US in organising the attack.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rauf, Rashid
1980s births
2008 deaths
21st-century criminals
British al-Qaeda members
British escapees
British people imprisoned abroad
Date of birth missing
Deaths by drone strikes of the Central Intelligence Agency in Pakistan
British male criminals
English people of Pakistani descent
Escapees from Pakistani detention
Pakistani al-Qaeda members
Pakistani criminals
Pakistani escapees
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
Place of birth missing
British expatriates in Pakistan
People charged with terrorism