Abu Nidal found dead in Baghdad home

RAMALLAH, West Bank, 20 August — Abu Nidal, one of the world’s most wanted men, was found dead in his Baghdad home with gunshot wounds, Palestinian sources said yesterday. Abu Nidal, 65, a sworn enemy of any Palestinian leader who sought accommodation with Israel, led a dissident Palestinian organization. It was blamed for attacks in 20 countries in which hundreds of people were killed or wounded, mostly during the 1970s and 1980s.

A senior Palestinian official said Abu Nidal had died under “mysterious conditions” and it was unclear whether he was killed or committed suicide.

An informed source in Ramallah quoting Abu Nidal group in Baghdad told Asharq Al-Awsat that two armed men had assassinated Abu Nidal.

The news of his death broke in the Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam which said that Abu Nidal, “nom de guerre” for 65-year-old Sabri Al-Bana, died three days ago. Later in the day, Palestinian officials in the West Bank — men loathed by Abu Nidal for having dealings with Israel — said their own sources in Iraq had indeed confirmed his death, although the exact circumstances remained unclear.

The favored theory was that he had finally shot himself; it is believed he had leukemia, and had moved to Iraq for treatment from Egypt several years ago.

“In the 1970s and 1980s, Abu Nidal was considered something of a Bin Laden,” Melman said.

Abu Nidal, meaning “Father of the Struggle”, was the head of the Fatah-Revolutionary Council group that broke with the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1974, saying it was too moderate.

Born in the Mediterranean port town of Jaffa to wealthy Palestinian parents, Abu Nidal and his family were driven out to the West Bank in 1948 when Jews declared a state in Palestine against the wishes of the Palestinian inhabitants.

Abu Nidal’s group waged a guerrilla war across three continents with killings, bombings and hijackings. He was sentenced to death in absentia by a Fatah military court. In 1982, his group tried to assassinate Israel’s ambassador to Britain, setting off Israel’s invasion of Lebanon to root out Palestinian groups. (The Independent)