RAMALLAH, Aug 20: Palestinian guerrilla chief Abu Nidal was killed or committed suicide when Iraqi security men confronted him over his anti-government activity, a senior Palestinian source said on Tuesday.

The account, like reports that first appeared on Monday of the mysterious death in Baghdad of one of the world’s most wanted men, could not be independently verified.

In the latest version, the source said his contacts in Baghdad told him Iraqi security agents went to Abu Nidal’s apartment several days ago to take the leader of the Fatah-Revolutionary Council away for questioning.

Iraqi authorities, the source said, discovered Abu Nidal had opened channels to Iraqi guerrillas in Syria and Jordan opposed to President Saddam Hussein and wanted to put a stop to the activity before any US military operations against Iraq began. The source said Abu Nidal, 65, went to get his gun, but it was not clear whether he shot himself or was killed by the agents.

Sources in Abu Nidal’s group said on Monday he shot himself because he was suffering from cancer and addicted to painkillers.

There has been official silence from Baghdad, which has never commented on whether the Palestinian guerrilla commander was in the Iraqi capital.

Abu Nidal, or Sabri al-Baana, was a sworn enemy of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and any Palestinian leader who sought accommodation with Israel.

His Fatah-Revolutionary Council group was blamed for attacks in 20 countries in which hundreds of people were killed or wounded, mostly during the 1970s and 1980s.

Abu Nidal was accused of masterminding gun and grenade attacks on Israeli and US airline check-in desks, killing 19 people and injuring more than 100, in Rome and Vienna in December 1985.

His group was also held responsible for a gun attack in June 1982 that seriously wounded Israel’s ambassador in London, Shlomo Argov. The shooting prompted Israel’s invasion of Lebanon days later to root out Palestinian guerrilla groups.—Reuters