The second man at the base was killed in Iran The New York Times reported, citing intelligence officials, that Israeli agents were acting on orders from the United States in August.

The New York Times reported that Abdullah Ahmad Abdullah, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was killed by two men on a motorbike in Tehran. He was accused of helping orchestrating the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa.

Al-Masry was seen as the likely successor to Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is believed to be the current al-Qaeda leader.

The New York Times said it was not clear what role, if any, the United States played in the killing of the Egyptian-born gunman on August 7, the anniversary of the embassy attacks, adding that US authorities were tracking al-Masri and other al-Qaeda members. Have been active in Iran for years.

A US official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity refused to confirm any of the details in the New York Times story or to reveal whether there was any US involvement. The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The newspaper stated that Al-Masry was killed with his daughter, the widow of Hamza bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s son.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who masterminded the September 11 attacks on the United States, He was killed in an American raid In Pakistan in 2011.

The New York Times quoted unnamed US intelligence officials as saying that Al-Masry had been in Iranian “custody” since 2003, but had been living freely in an upscale suburb of Tehran since 2015.

The New York Times said counterterrorism officials believed that Iran, also an enemy of the United States, may have allowed him to live there to conduct operations against US targets.

It was not immediately known what, if any, the impact of al-Masry’s death 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 branches from the Middle East to Afghanistan and West Africa.

With Reuters