Iraq: The Killing of Al Qaeda’s Second-highest leader Sheds Light on Iran- al-Qaeda Relations

Erbil-Iraq 17.11.2020 

Experts indicated that Iran’s denial of Abu Muhammad al-Masri’s presence on its soil aims at preserving the Iranian intelligence security image, as to avoid revealing the fragility of such a system. Al Masri was killed in one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in one of the intelligence security buildings in Pasdaran. By denying Al Masri’s presence on its soil, Iran avoids being linked to al-Qaeda. Moreover, Iran refuted New York Times’ report that al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, accused by the US to have bombed US embassies in East Africa in 1988, was secretly killed in Tehran in August this year. The US intelligence informed New York Times that Abdullah Ahmed, who was among the names of the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list, was shot along with his daughter Mariam, the widow of Osama bin Laden’s son, in Tehran by two gunmen on a motorcycle, adding that there is a possibility that those gunmen were Israeli agents who conducted the operation at Washington’s behest