Pakistan orders probe into British terror suspect's escape

Pakistan's government yesterday ordered a high-level investigation into the escape from police custody of a British terror suspect, officials said, as a hunt was launched to track him down.
Rashid Rauf -- who is suspected of plotting to blow up airliners bound for the United States from London -- was being taken from a court hearing on Saturday when he broke free from his handcuffs and ran off, a senior officer said.
Islamabad police said they were questioning several officers over the disappearance, while an official statement also announced the top-level probe.
The three-member committee includes one officer each from the police and interior ministry and a senior official of the Islamabad administration, the statement released by state media said. It has been told to report within 48 hours.
Earlier interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema told AFP: "Rashid Rauf escaped from police custody and we are making every possible effort to re-arrest him."
The police chief of Islamabad, Shahid Nadeem Baluch, told AFP early Sunday: "The hunt is on to track him down. We have conducted some raids but so far there hasn't been any breakthrough."
Rauf, 25, was arrested in central Pakistan in August 2006 and had been behind bars since. The arrest sparked a worldwide security alert and 24 people were detained in Britain in a major swoop.