Israel killed Qaeda No 2 leader in Iran: NYT

Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa, was killed in Iran in August by Israeli operatives acting at the behest of the United States, the New York Times reported, citing intelligence officials. 

Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who went by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was gunned down by two men on a motorcycle in the streets of Tehran on Aug 7, the Times reported on Friday.

Masri, one of al-Qaeda's founding leaders, was killed along with his daughter, the Times reported. She was the widow of former Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's son.

The killing of Masri, who was seen as a likely successor to al Qaeda's current leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was kept secret until now, the newspaper said.

Iran yesterday denied the report. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement that the United States and Israel sometimes "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".