Iran said Saturday that a New York Times report that Al-Qaida's second-in-command had been secretly killed in Tehran was based on "made-up information" and denied the presence of any of the group's members.

 

Iran's foes, the United States and Israel, "try to shift the responsiblity for the criminal acts of (Al-Qaida) and other terrorist groups in the region and link Iran to such groups with lies and by leaking made-up information to the media," foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement.