LONDON, Aug 25: Top Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal, 65, was killed on the orders of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein because he refused to train Al Qaeda terrorists in the north of Iraq, Britain’s Sunday Times wrote, quoting Iraqi opposition groups and western diplomats.

Abu Nidal had been treated for a mild form of skin cancer while in Baghdad as Saddam’s personal guest, but relations between the two had soured when Nidal refused to “reactivate” his international terrorist network, it was reported.

According to Taher Jalil al-Habush, head of the Iraqi secret service, and official Iraqi reports, Abu Nidal shot himself when he was about to be interrogated for allegedly “planning activities, with the support of an unnamed country, which endangered the security of Iraq”. Both the Iraqi opposition and members of the Abu Nidal group, however, claimed he was murdered on Saddam Hussein’s orders.—dpa