DAMASCUS, Oct 12: Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan committed suicide in his office on Wednesday — three weeks after he was questioned by a UN team probing the killing of Lebanon’s former pime minister, Rafik al Hariri.

About an hour before Mr Kanaan killed himself, he called a Lebanese radio station to give a statement, saying it might be the last he would make.

Mr Kanaan’s suicide came a week before a UN inquiry into Mr Hariri’s February killing, presents its findings.

Shortly before news of Mr Kanaan’s suicide broke, President Bashar al Assad said in an interview with CNN that Syria was not involved in Mr Hariri’s death and that he could never have ordered it.

Asked if Syrian officials would have ordered the killing without his knowledge, he said: “I don’t think so. If it happened then it’s treason.

“If (Syrians) are implicated they should be punished. International (court) or Syrian, whatever.”

Syrian authorities, already under pressure from the United States over Iraq, have grown increasingly nervous over Lebanese and international charges Syria was linked to Mr Hariri’s death.

Syrian officials have said in recent weeks the UN report would show Damascus had nothing to do with the killing.

The official news agency SANA reported the suicide and said investigations were under way.

“There was blood on his face. The initial indications are that he put the gun in his mouth and shot himself,” a source said.—Reuters