Labour MP Tam Dalyell has called on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to produce any evidence he has linking Abu Nidal to the Lockerbie bombing.

Mr Dalyell, the Commons' longest-serving MP, made his call following reports of the Palestinian terror mastermind's death in Baghdad.

The MP for Linlithgow has led calls for a fresh investigation of the 1988 bombing of Pan-Am flight 103 over the Scottish town, in which 270 people died.

Abu Nidal's name has regularly been linked with the atrocity, but no hard evidence has ever been produced to prove his responsibility.

Abu Nidal: "Suicide"

Last year, Libyan agent Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was jailed for life for the atrocity and his appeal against the verdict was rejected in March.

The verdicts were questioned by Mr Dalyell.

Al Megrahi is currently serving a life sentence in a Scottish jail.

Nidal, 65, is reported to have committed suicide in Baghdad, where he lived under Saddam's protection.

Mr Dalyell made a formal request to the Iraqi government to ask "as a matter of the utmost urgency" if it has any evidence that Abu Nidal had any connection with the bombing.

The Father of the House of Commons said: "I have always believed that Abu Nidal and his organisation were the instruments of that atrocity."