Terror leader Abu Nidal found dead in Baghdad

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal died in Baghdad with multiple gunshot wounds that left unclear whether he had been killed by a rival, slain by his Iraqi patrons or had taken his own life, Palestinian officials said Monday.

The schoolteacher-turned-terror-mastermind, once branded the world's most dangerous terrorist by the U.S. State Department, struck from Paris to Pakistan for more than two decades. His ruthless campaign targeted civilians and eliminated some of the associates of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

His most notorious attacks were twin assaults on the Israeli airline El Al's ticket counters at Rome and Vienna airports on Dec. 27, 1985. Eighteen people were killed and 120 wounded.

Nidal, 65, a renegade who opposed any negotiations with Israel, was found dead in his apartment in the Iraqi capital three days ago, said two senior Palestinian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

They said they believed Nidal committed suicide, but did not explain how he could have shot himself several times. The Al-Ayyam newspaper, close to the Palestinian Authority, reported Monday Nidal was found shot in the head in his apartment by Iraqi forces who had come to arrest him.

Unanswered questions

The shooting death left many questions unanswered. Nidal had collected many enemies, but he had also been ill -- reportedly with heart disease and bone cancer -- and that may have led him to commit suicide.

In Baghdad, the deputy Palestinian ambassador, Nejah Abdul-Rahman, said he had no information regarding what he described as "rumors" of Nidal's death.

Ghanem Saleh, the spokesman for Nidal's group Fatah, speaking in Lebanon, said he heard the report in the news media and had no comment.

Mohammed al-Banna, Nidal's brother, said he had no information to indicate his brother -- whose real name was Sabri al-Banna -- had died in Baghdad, but added that he had not heard from him in 38 years.

Diminished influence

The U.S. State Department once termed Nidal's group "the most dangerous terrorist organization in existence." But Jordanian political analyst Bilal al-Tal said Monday Nidal's "influence had diminished" in recent years.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry refused comment on reports of Nidal's death, saying it was an internal Palestinian matter.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the Bush administration had no comment, but called Nidal "a craven and despicable terrorist" and said "the world would be a better place without people like Abu Nidal."