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WASHINGTON: Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, accused of helping plan the 1998 bombings against two American embassies in Africa, was killed in Iran in August by Israeli agents acting at the behest of the United States, the New York reported. Times on Friday (November 13), citing intelligence officials.
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, known by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle in Tehran more than three months ago, the Times reported.
The murder of Masri, who was seen as a likely successor to current al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, was kept secret until now, the newspaper said.
It was unclear what role the United States played in the August 7 killing of the Egyptian-born militant, the Times said. US authorities had been tracking Masri and other al Qaeda operatives in Iran for years, he said.
A US official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, declined to confirm any of the details of the Times story or say whether there was any US involvement. The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Masri was killed along with his daughter, the widow of Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza bin Laden, the Times reported.
Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who orchestrated the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, was killed in a US raid on Pakistan in 2011.
Shiite Iran and Al Qaeda, a militant Sunni Muslim organization, have long been enemies.
Masri had been in Iranian “custody” since 2003, but had been living freely in an upscale Tehran suburb since 2015, the Times cited unidentified US intelligence officials.
US counterterrorism officials believe that Iran, also an enemy of the United States, may have allowed them to live there to conduct operations against US targets, the Times said.
It was not immediately known what impact, if any, Masri’s death had on Al-Qaeda activities. Although it has lost top leaders in the nearly two decades since the attacks on New York and Washington, it has maintained active affiliates from the Middle East to Afghanistan and West Africa.
