Rashid Rauf, an al-Qaeda member who fled to his native country Pakistan from Britain seven years ago to evade arrest, is believed to have masterminded the plot to bomb shopping centres in Manchester over Easter, a media report claimed today.

Rauf, identified by Britain's intelligence agency Mi5 as al-Qaeda's 'Director of Operations' in Europe, is suspected of planning the bombing as part of a wider "master plan" for a number of attacks on cities across the Continent, The Sunday Times reported.