Terrorist Abu Nidal committed suicide in Baghdad by shooting himself in the mouth as authorities were about to take him for interrogation, Iraq said today.
Palestinian Abu Nidal, whose real name was Sabri al-Banna, entered Iraq "illegally" in 1999 from Iran carrying a fake Yemeni passport, Iraqi secret services chief Mr Taher Jalil Habbush said.
He said Abu Nidal (65) shot himself when secret service agents turned up at his house to take him for interrogation after his presence in Iraq was discovered.
"He died eight hours later at the hospital to which he was taken," Mr Habbush said, without giving the date of the suicide.
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According to Mr Habbush, a "brotherly Arab country" had alerted Baghdad authorities to Abu Nidal's entry into Iraq.