According to report by The New York Times, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, also known as Abu Mahmoud al Masri, was seen as a likely successor toe al Qaida's current leader, Ayman al Zawahiri.

He was also accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two U.

S embassies in Africa.

The Times reported that he was gunned down by two men on a motorcycle in the streets of Tehran on August 7th on that the killing was kept secret until now.

A senior Afghan security source told Reuters in October that must be who has long been on the US FBI's most wanted terrorist list had been killed in Tehran, but Reuters could not corroborate that information.

It is unclear what, if any, role the United States had in the killing.

On Saturday, Iran denied the report, saying there were no quote al Qaida terrorists on its soil.