WASHINGTON, Aug 28: Iran is harbouring two key Al Qaeda leaders who are now running the organization in the absence of Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman Zawahiri, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

In a report from Jeddah, the post said Iran was sheltering dozens of Al Qaeda fighters in hotels and guest houses in the border cities of Mashhad and Zabol.

A spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations, however, denied hiding Al Qaeda leader and said: “Iran’s policy is not to permit such people to enter the country.”

“We reject all such stories as baseless. The purpose behind such stories is to defame Iran and create doubts about the Iranian government,” he told Dawn.

The two — Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian on the FBI’s most-wanted list, and Mahfouz Ould Walid, also known as Abu Hafs the Mauritanian, whom US officials reported had been killed near the eastern Afghan city of Khost in January — are directly involved in planning Al Qaeda terrorist operations, according to the intelligence sources.

“With Osama bin Laden and his second-in-command Ayman Zawahiri, in hiding, the and with the death of the former military chief, Muhammad Atef, the two have assumed operational control of Al Qaeda’s military committee, which directs attacks, and its ideological or religious committee, which issues Fatwas to justify those attacks,” said the report quoting Arab intelligence sources.

Al Qaeda felt the need for the transfer of power soon after the attacks in New York and at the Pentagon on Sept 11, when it became apparent that the United States might attack Afghanistan and capture or kill some of its senior leaders, the sources said.