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Report: Al-Qaeda Deputies in Iran NewsMax WiresWASHINGTON -- Two al-Qaeda deputies are being sheltered in Iran along with dozens of other al-Qaeda fighters and are said to be plotting new attacks, the Washington Post reported Wednesday, quoting unidentified Arab intelligence sources. The Post quoted the sources as saying that Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian on the FBI's most-wanted list, and Mahfouz Ould Walid, whom the Pentagon said had been killed in Afghanistan in January - had moved up the network's hierarchy in recent months. The newspaper's Jiddah, Saudi Arabia-datelined story, cited Arab intelligence sources outside Saudi Arabia who did not want their countries disclosed. The report said al-Adel, Walid and dozens of other al-Qaeda members were staying in hotels and guesthouses in the Iranian border cities of Mashhad and Zabol. "There is an Iranian role in hosting al-Qaeda and sponsoring the movement of al-Qaeda," a senior Arab intelligence officer told the Post. The officer said Iran's reformist government, which may have qualms about aiding al-Qaeda, is powerless to prevent the military and the intelligence service from assisting fugitives from Afghanistan. With Osama bin Laden and his chief lieutenants in hiding or dead, al-Adel and Walid have assumed operational control of al-Qaeda's military committee, which directs attacks, the Post said, quoting intelligence sources. Al-Adel, head of al-Qaeda's security committee, was indicted in the United States on murder and conspiracy charges in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. Walid, a longtime bin Laden assistant, has played a role in developing the doctrine to justify al-Qaeda attacks. The Post quoted sources as saying Walid had assumed control of al-Qaeda's religious committee and, because he is in Iran with al-Adel, was also participating in military planning. A spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations denied that the two men were in Iran, the newspaper said. "Iran's policy is not to permit such people to enter Iran," the Iranian official said. However, the Post reported that al-Adel and Walid meet regularly with lieutenants in Mashhad and Zabol. The intelligence officers said al-Qaeda had planned attacks in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf this year and also planned to kill Americans on the streets of Saudi Arabia, the newspaper said. Copyright 2002 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
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