Al-Qaida’s number two ‘assassinated by Israeli agents in Iran’

Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah and his daughter gunned in the street by two Mossad assassins on a motorcycle, New York Times said
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah
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Terror group al-Qaida’s second-in-command was assassinated by Israeli agents in Iran three months ago, according to a report.

The New York Times said that Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah was shot dead in the street by two Mossad assassins on a motorcycle following a request from the US.

Iran has denied the claims, saying it had no al-Qaida “terrorists” living in its country.

Abdullah is accused of planning the deadly attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998.

The terrorist, more commonly known by his nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was gunned down along with his daughter in Tehran, the newspaper said, citing anonymous US intelligence officials.

The New York Times claimed that Iran had initially sought to cover up al-Masri's death, with Iranian and Lebanese media describing the victims of the shooting as a Lebanese history professor and his daughter.

However, Iran's foreign ministry denied the report saying: "From time to time, Washington and Tel Aviv try to tie Iran to such groups by lying and leaking false information to the media in order to avoid responsibility for the criminal activities of this group and other terrorist groups in the region."

Al-Masri was one of the founding members of the jihadist group which has wreaked devastation across the Middle East and parts of Africa and carried out the 7/7 attacks in the US in 2001.

He was accused of being behind the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people and left hundreds of others injured.

Al-Masri had been in Iran since 2003, initially under house arrest but later living freely, American intelligence officials quoted in the New York Times said.

Any link between Iran and al-Qaida would be highly unusual as the two sides have fought each other in conflicts. They also represent the two main and sometimes opposing groups of Islam with Iran being largely Shia Muslim, while al-Qaida is a Sunni jihadist group.

Al-Masri still appears on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist list, where a $10 million reward is offered for information leading to his arrest.

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