Brit minister urges distance from U.S.

LONDON, April 12 (UPI) -- A British minister says the United Kingdom needs to distance itself from U.S. policy of using drones to attack militants in Pakistan.

"It's quite clear in many Pakistani eyes that the U.K. is considered in the same terms as the U.S.," said Sadiq Khan, Britain's community cohesion minister. "We want to explain that our foreign policy, especially on the issue of drone attacks, is distinct from U.S. foreign policy."

Pakistanis are inflamed over the use of unmanned aircraft to fire missiles at al-Qaida cells inside Pakistan, Khan said in London as British officials released more details of an alleged al-Qaida plot to bomb shopping centers in Manchester during the Easter holiday weekend, The Sunday Times of London reported.

Twelve men, including 11 Pakistanis on student visas, were arrested in raids last week on Manchester, Liverpool and Clitheroe, Lancashire.

The men were alleged to be linked to Rashid Rauf, 27, a fugitive British terrorist targeted in a U.S. missile strike against a remote Pakistani village last November, Scotland Yard said Saturday. It remains unclear whether Rauf survived the attack.