The family of a British al-Qaeda warlord killed in a CIA airstrike in Pakistan are suing the Government, saying it conspired in murder.
Rashid Rauf, who grew up in Birmingham, masterminded the 7/7 bomb attacks in London in 2005 and plotted to blow up airliners over the Atlantic.
He was killed in 2008 when a US Predator drone fired a missile at a compound. Rauf was on the run from police custody at the time.
But his family say British intelligence officers who helped the Americans find him are guilty of war crimes. John Taylor, whose daughter Carrie died in the London bombings, insisted: “The world is better off without people like Rauf.
“He boasted about plotting to kill thousands of innocent people and signed up as a suicide bomber. You can’t reason with people like that.
“His family are making a mockery of his victims. They think mass murder is OK for ideological reasons — but play the human rights card when one of their own dies.
“The Americans did the right thing. If we helped, we did the right thing too.” He added: “I hope David Cameron and his Government have the guts to stand up to those trying to play our country for fools.”
Rauf, 27, was on a CIA “High Value Target” list because of his role as a chief planner for al-Qaeda terror attacks on the West.
Al-Qaeda files found hidden in a porn movie this year revealed he led the failed 2006 drinks bottles plot to blow up planes from Heathrow to the US. He was the brains behind the London attacks and there was also a plan to hijack a cruise ship and film passenger executions.
Rauf’s family say he had no links with al-Qaeda. A friend said: “They want justice. Their son, was killed in murky circumstances amounting to cold-blooded murder. Rashid never had a chance to defend himself.”
In another case, Pakistani Noor Khan, 27, whose father died in a drone strike, wants a judicial review in a bid to make sharing of information on targets’ locations illegal.
by Sasha Dubronitz
