Al-Qaida number two 'sanctioned plane terror plot'

The alleged terror plot to blow up US-bound planes was probably sanctioned by al-Qaida number-two leader Ayman al-Zawahri, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said today.

The latest investigations by Pakistan also indicate that a British national arrested in Pakistan, Rashid Rauf, was the planner of the attacks who recruited people to take part in the plot, the official said.