WASHINGTON (US) – Citing intelligence officials, The New York Times came out with a report on Friday that Al Qaeda’s second-in-command, who was charged with helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa, was finished off in Iran in August by Israeli operatives who were acting on behalf of Washington.
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah aka Abu Muhammad al-Masri was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle in Tehran on Aug. 7, said the report.
Masri was considered to be a likely successor to the current leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and his killing was kept a secret.
The role of the US in the killing of Masri, who was born in Egypt, is not clear. However, American authorities had been tracking him as well as other operatives in Iran for several years.
The outfit is yet to announce the death of Masri and Iranian officials have covered it up, said the report.
The slain leader was one of the founders of the outfit. He was gunned down along with his daughter, the widow of former al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s son, Hamza bin Laden, according to the report.
Osama bin Laden was the mastermind behind Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US and he was killed in a raid conducted by US operatives in Pakistan in 2011.
Shia-dominant Iran and the outfit have been at loggerheads for long.
Although Masri had been in Iran’s “custody” since 2003, he was living free in a posh suburb of Tehran, said the report.
According to US counterterrorism officials, Iran, which is a US enemy, might have let them live there to conduct operations against targets in the country.