[ad_1]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Al Qaeda’s second-in-command, accused of helping plan the 1998 bombings against two US embassies in Africa, was killed in Iran in August by Israeli agents acting at the behest of the United States, The New York Times. reported Friday, 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 on the streets of Tehran on August 7, the Times reported.
The murder of Masri, who was seen as a likely successor to current al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, was kept secret until now, the newspaper said.
It was unclear what role, if any, the United States played in the 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.
Al Qaeda has not announced his death, Iranian officials have covered it up, and no government has publicly claimed responsibility, the Times said.
A US official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, declined to confirm the details of the Times story or say if there was any US involvement. The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Masri, one of the founding leaders of Al Qaeda, was assassinated along with his daughter, the widow of the son of former Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, Hamza bin Laden, the Times reported.
Osama bin Laden orchestrated the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and was killed in an American 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.
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Mark Hosenball; Edited by Leslie Adler and Sonya Hepinstall)
[ad_2]
