STILL ALIVE; British terror mastermind 'killed' by US strikes is...: EXCLUSIVE.

Byline: BEN GOLDBY

TERROR mastermind Rashid Rauf is top of a 'most wanted' hit list in Pakistan despite US claims that they "killed" the Brummie Al Qaeda chief in an air strike.

A secret list of the top 10 most wanted terror operatives in the lawless tribal regions of North West Pakistan, distributed to field commanders just last week, reveals that Birmingham-born Rauf, Al Qaeda's chief recruiter for attacks in the UK and Europe, is still at large.

The Sunday Mercury can also reveal that US intelligence sources are convinced the British terror kingpin, who was the brains behind the liquid bomb plot to kill thousands of transatlantic airline passengers, is alive. Baker's son Rauf, 28, whose arrest led to the capture of the three men convicted last week of plotting liquid bomb attacks, was reported dead following a missile strike from an unmanned US Predator drone in North Waziristan in November 2008.

However, CIA insiders say video footage taken by the drone of the attack is inconclusive, meaning the hit may have failed to kill Rauf.

The Brummie militant's body was never produced, and no DNA samples taken to confirm that he died. His family, who still live in Ward End, Birmingham, have consistently denied that he is dead.

A source close to the US intelligence community says that signals intelligence on Rauf, taken from phone intercepts and eavesdropping devices, has been discovered since his apparent "death".

"The reports that he is dead came out at a time when the CIA was under pressure to take out high-profile Al Qaeda operatives," our source explained.

"I have seen some of the information and his lawyers, who also believe he is still alive, have seen reports from Pakistani intelligence. "The problem with the strike on Rauf is that you cannot make out from the cameras that tracked the air strike whether or not he was hit. This took place at night, in a building where it is impossible to tell who is inside.

"The timing of this strike is crucial.

There was a lot of pressure for these raids to make an impression.

"If there was suspicion that someone was killed, they went ahead and released it to the press claiming that person was dead.

"I understand that he is alive, and that the Pakistanis are hunting him."

Reports that Rauf may still be alive first emerged in April after a militant detained during a raid in Belgium claimed that he had been trained by the Brummie terror chief.

Shortly after the November strike, Rauf's lawyer claimed he was still alive, and that Taliban fighters had been in touch with him.

In April, the former Washwood Heath High School student was implicated as the mastermind behind a failed plot to conduct attacks at a shopping centre in Manchester on Easter Sunday.

Rauf fled to the tribal areas of North Western Pakistan in April 2002, as West Midlands Police tried to question him over the murder of his uncle, Mohammed Saeed, in Alum Rock.

He married a relative of Maulana Masood Azhar, the notorious founder of Kashmiri terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, in 2003.

Intelligence reports say he took an active role in planning terror "spectaculars" and was the ringleader of the liquid bomb plot to blow up USbound jets over the Atlantic Ocean. In August 2006, as spooks were monitoring the airline bomb plot, Rauf, who was under surveillance by British, Pakistani and American secret services, was arrested on the instruction of the CIA, forcing MI5 to arrest the London-based fanatics who were due to carry out the attack.

Although charges over the transatlantic plot were later dropped against Rauf, the CIA continued to track his activities and he was held by Pakistani police as detectives in Birmingham sought his extradition over his uncle's murder.

But in December 2007 Rauf gave guards the slip after a hearing and fled back to the lawless tribal regions of North Western Pakistan.

[e-mail] The story so far April 2002: Rashid Rauf flees Britain just hours before West Midlands Police detectives knock on his door following the "honour killing" of his uncle Mohammed Saeed in Alum Rock, Birmingham. August 2006: The chief of operations for the plot to blow up transatlantic airliners, Rauf is snatched from a bus on its way to the Pakistani town of Bahawalpur, and detained by the shadowy Pakistani security service ISI. December 2007: In a bizarre escape, Rauf is allowed into a Mosque alone while being transferred between prison and court. The high value terror detainee escapes without a trace back to Southern Waziristan. November 2008: The US claims that a missile strike from an un-manned drone has killed Rauf. No body is produced.

September 2009: British would-be suicide bombers Tanvir Hussain, Abdulla Ahmed Ali and Assad Sarwar, are found guilty of conspiring to blow up transatlantic planes using liquid explosives. The mastermind, Rauf, remains at large and is named as the fifth most wanted man in Pakistan.

CAPTION(S):

Pakistani police officers escort Rashid Rauf in 2007