Terror mastermind Nidal found dead

ABU NIDAL, one of the world’s most wanted terrorists linked to the bombing of the Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, was found dead in his Baghdad apartment, officials said yesterday.

His body was found four days ago with gunshot wounds, said two senior Palestinian officials in the West Bank.

They said reports they received from the Iraqi capital suggested the schoolteacher turned ruthless terror leader committed suicide, but did not address the question of how that was possible when there was more than one bullet wound.

The Gulf satellite TV network al-Jazeerah said it was believed Abu Nidal, 65, who suffered from cancer, shot himself when an Iraqi force tried to arrest him. Abu Nidal's group, the Fatah Revolutionary Council, split from Yasser Arafat's PLO in 1974 and has been responsible for many terror attacks, killing or injuring 900 people.

Two British diplomats and a British journalist were among his victims.

In 1987 he moved to Libya where one of the predominant state sponsors of international terrorism welcomed him with open arms. A year later Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie killing 270 people. A former Libyan intelligence agent is serving life in a Scottish prison for the attack.

Many believe Abu Nidal had a hand in the planning of the outrage.

In 1999, in an attempt to rid itself of international sanctions, Libya kicked out the Abu Nidal Organisation and he moved to Iraq under the protection of Saddam Hussein.

In December last year he was sentenced in his absence to death by a Jordanian court for planning the murder of a diplomat in 1994.

"In the 1970s and 1980s Abu Nidal was considered something of an Osama bin Laden, a man of terror who had his hand in everything," said Israeli Arab Affairs analyst Yossi Melman.

The Palestinian officials said they received word of Abu Nidal's death from sources in Baghdad where he lived.

His death was announced by his Palestinian rivals. In the mid-1970s, Abu Nidal accused Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Liberation Organisation of softening in the struggle and made the PLO his prime target. His men shot dead Arafat's most trusted lieutenants.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Abu Nidal's brother said he had no information if his brother was dead but added he had not heard from him in 38 years. Mohammed al-Banna, a fruit and vegetable merchant, said it was not the first time rumours have circulated concerning the death of his brother, whose real name is Sabri al-Banna. Abu Nidal means father of the struggle.

Born in Jaffa in 1937, his family moved to Nablus and he left the area to oppose the establishment of Israel.

The shadowy guerrilla masterminded the killings of both Jews and fellow Palestinians who opposed him.

He flitted from one lair to another to avoid capture.

He is reported to run an international extortion racket running into millions of dollars, shaking down governments with threats of attacks. He has been accused of dealing in arms and of being a hit man for various Arab backers. The terrorist struck targets from Paris to Pakistan.