Assisted Suicide?

In Baghdad, notorious extremist Abu Nidal meets a violent, mysterious end--one worthy of his life

Long before 9/11, the title of most dangerous terrorist in the world belonged to Abu Nidal. Unlike Osama bin Laden, he disliked being filmed chatting about his ideology over a Kalashnikov. He almost never emerged from the turbid underworld of international crime, and he had no consistent belief system. He switched allegiances with ease. Governments actually paid him just to leave their people alone. Even so, beginning in 1974, he was responsible for 900 murders in 20 nations, according to the U.S. State Department.

But Abu Nidal's legend relied as much on rumor as on his brazen acts of violence. His...

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