Iran denies report al Qaeda operative killed in Iran

Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who went by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was gunned down on the streets of Tehran by two assassins on a motorcycle on Aug. 7, the anniversary of the embassy attacks. (Representational image)

Iran on Saturday denied a New York Times report that al Qaeda’s second-in-command was killed in Iran in August by Israeli operatives at the behest of the United States. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that there were no al Qaeda “terrorists” on Iranian soil.

“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,” the ministry said.

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