Updated: November 14, 2020 1:10:44 pm
Masri was killed along with his daughter, the widow of Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza bin Laden, the Times reported. (Representative image)
(Written by Adam Goldman, Eric Schmitt, Farnaz Fassihi, and Ronen Bergman)
Al-Qaida’s second-highest leader, accused of being one of the masterminds of the deadly 1998 attacks on US embassies in Africa, was assassinated in Iran three months ago, intelligence officials confirmed.
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who called himself Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was shot in the streets of Tehran by two murderers on a motorcycle on August 7, the anniversary of the attacks on the embassy. He was murdered along with his daughter, Miriam, the widow of Osama bin Laden’s son, Hamza bin Laden.
The attack was carried out by Israeli operatives at the behest of the United States, according to four of the officials. It is unclear what role, if any, the United States played, which had been following the movements of al-Masri and other al-Qaida operatives in Iran for years.
The murder occurred in an underworld of geopolitical intrigue and counter-terrorism espionage so low that al-Masri’s death was rumored but never confirmed until now. For reasons still obscure, al-Qaida has not announced the death of one of its top leaders, Iranian officials covered it up, and no country has publicly claimed responsibility.
Al-Masri, who was around 58 years old, was one of the founding leaders of al-Qaida and was thought to be the first in line to lead the organization after its current leader, Ayman al-Zawahri.
Long on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List, he had been indicted in the United States for crimes related to the bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people and injured hundreds. The FBI offered a $ 10 million reward for information leading to his capture, and as of Friday, his photo was still on the most wanted list.
Although al-Qaida has been overshadowed in recent years by the rise of the Islamic State, it remains resilient and has active affiliates around the world, a UN report on counterterrorism published in July concluded.
Some US analysts said al-Masri’s death would break the connections between one of al-Qaida’s last original leaders and the current generation of Islamist militants, who have grown up after bin Laden’s death in 2011.
“If true, this further cuts the links between the old school al-Qaida and modern jihad,” said Nicholas J. Rasmussen, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center. “It just further contributes to the fragmentation and decentralization of the al-Qaida movement.”
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