Report: Abu Nidal source of speculation on Egypt-US relations

The British daily Sunday Telegraph reported that a US attempt was foiled to win the capture of Abu Nidal, who was said to be recently arrested in Egypt.

In an article by its editor for foreign affairs, Con Coughlin, the paper added that a diplomatic crisis is looming on the horizon between Egypt and the US over the Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal, a matter which places more difficulties before the US efforts to fight terrorism. The paper reported that US intelligence sources leaked news that Abu Nidal is being treated for cancer in one of Egypt's hospitals, noting that US intelligence received this information several weeks ago.

The paper added that the issue was calmly treated in the beginning on the grounds the Egyptians had promised to jail Abu Nidal, but they did not take a tangible measures in this respect.

In the aftermath, the Americans revealed that Abu Nidal was in hospital in an attempt to urge the Egyptian government to take measures against him. But Cairo did not only limit its stand in not arresting Abu Nidal, it denied his presence in its territories.

At Monday's press briefing, US State Department spokesman James Foley said that the US did not have information from Egypt on Abu Nidal's whereabouts. "As we indicated the other day, we had been in contact with Egyptian authorities. We weren't able to confirm the story and I'm not aware that that has changed," he said.