BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The Fatah-Revolutionary Council rejected on Wednesday Iraq's claim that its leader Sabri al-Banna, better known as Abu Nidal, committed suicide and said he was instead assassinated by an intelligence service.
In a statement released in Beirut, the FRC said its leader, whom it described as "a prominent struggling personality," entered Iraq years ago with "the knowledge and prior arrangements" with the Iraqi authorities.
The statement refuted as "untrue" the "version" reported earlier Wednesday by Taher Jaleel al-Haboush, the head of Iraq's intelligence service, that Abu Nidal committed suicide in Baghdad as Iraqi agents attempted to take him for interrogation about his illegal entry of Iraq.
"Leader Abu Nidal is a tough man and a believer, who fought his battles on all fronts and could not have committed suicide for the reasons that the head of the Iraqi intelligence service reported," the statement said. "We consider that what happened is a previously arranged assassination operation executed by one of the intelligence services."
It did not name a specific intelligence service, though the circumstances would suggest it was referring to one of the Iraqi services.
The statement appealed to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to intervene personally for accelerating the investigation into Abu Nidal's death and disclosing the party behind it. The FRC also urged him to "hold proper funerals" for their leader, adding the group meanwhile "refuses to accept condolences before this ugly crime."
The statement went on to say its leadership was "studying the required steps to be adopted at this dangerous phase" and will soon announce the name of Abu Nidal's successor.
It pledged to maintain Abu Nidal's "struggling path" and "the armed struggle as the only way to liberate all of Palestine" and asserted that the group "never interfered in internal affaires of any Arab country and never practiced any negative role in the inter-Arab disputes."
The Iraqi declaration was the latest in a series of reports about Abu Nidal's death in Bagdad that began to circulate Monday. An FRC source at the time insisted he was still alive and in good health.
Taher Jaleel al-Haboush, head of Iraq's intelligence service, said Abu Nidal, 63, shot himself after a securityteam tried to escort him for interrogation for entering the country illegally.
"Sabri al-Banna (Abu Nidal's real name) committed suicide at his home in Baghdad by firing a bullet from his Smith pistol in his mouth," al-Haboush said during a news conference.
He said Abu Nidal was taken to a hospital where "he remained in the intensive care unit for eight hours before he died."
At the news conference, al-Haboush displayed fake passports, identification cards, and as well as pictures of a dying Abu Nidal.
He said Iraqi authorities were notified by "a brotherly Arab country," which he declined to identify, that Abu Nidal entered Iraq from Iran via the al-Munzariya border point in 1999, using a Yemeni passport.
After authorities located Abu Nidal in Baghdad, he said, the issued was referred to a court and a security committee was formed to inform Abu Nidal "that he entered Iraq in an illegal way and he should accompany them for interrogation."
Al-Haboush said the FRC leader "first welcomed the idea" of being taken for interrogation and asked the Iraqi soldiers for permission "to enter his room and change his clothes."
"But he shot himself in the room using a Smith pistol and he died after eight hours in the intensive care unit," he said.
Al-Haboush said the security men seized from Abu Nidal's house "light weapons, two silencer-equipped pistols, three booby-trapped suitcases, forged passports and identification cards as well as a secret code which we found it was connected to a country" he did not name, but said "it was supplying Abu Nidal with a certain amount of money."
"We have proof that condemn Abu Nidal but we are taking certain precautions because of the delicate
situation in our country due to the evil forces," he said. "That's why we will preserve the name of this
country and may be we can reveal it later."
Al-Haboush said Abu Nidal used a Yemeni passport to enter the country because "he knew that Iraq does
not require from inhabitants of certain Arab countries, including Yemen, to have entry visas."
He said the FRC leader lived in a Baghdad neighborhood "under a false name other than the one mentioned
in his fake passport which has Jordanian and Yemeni entry visas."
Al-Haboush displayed what he said were Abu Nidal's forged passports and identification cards as pictures
showing Abu Nidal the hospital's intensive care unit.
He said Iraq's "record is completely clean of terrorism" and had expelled Abu Nidal in 1983 after it was
proved that he was planning to disturb security in the country and other Arab states.
Al-Haboush said Iraq informed Farouk Qaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization's political
department, when he visited Baghdad this month that Abu Nidal committed suicide.
The Palestinian Charge d'Affaires in Baghdad, who was also notified about the incident, "who saw by
himself the place" where Abu Nidal shot himself.
Asked about Abu Nidal's burial arrangements, the Iraqi official said "that was left for the Palestinian
brothers," but gave no further details.
He said Abu Nidal's activities "were limited and had no great impact and all Arab and foreign intelligence
services know this reality."
Abu Nidal broke from the mainstream Fatah movement in the 1970s and was blamed for several
assassinations and bombings that killed or wounded hundreds of people in various countries. The U.S.
State Department has described Abu Nidal's group as the most dangerous in the world.
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