Airline plot: The al-Qaeda connection

Three men have been convicted of a plot to blow up planes above the Atlantic.

A jury found Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, Tanvir Hussain, 28, and Assad Sarwar, 29, guilty of plotting to kill thousands of people by blowing up planes from London to North America with home-made liquid bombs.

Intelligence officials believe the plot was directed by al-Qaeda.

It is believed that Rashid Rauf, a British man from Birmingham, was the key link between the British militants and Pakistan.

Rauf was arrested in Pakistan in early August 2006, but he escaped from custody the following year.

There were reports that he had been killed in an American attack last year but this has yet to be confirmed.

Daniel Sandford reports