DAMASCUS, Oct. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- A senior Syrian official said on Wednesday that Syria's stability would not be shattered after the death of Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan who committed suicide earlier in the day.  

    "Whatever happens, stability won't be shattered in Syria. We are one of the most stable countries in the region," Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlullah told Qatar's Al-Jazeera television.

    The official SANA news agency quoted a cabinet statement as expressing deep condolences to Kanaan's family after Kanaan shot himself dead in the head at his office on Wednesday morning, but gave no details.

    Dakhlullah also declined to speculate reasons behind Kanaan's suicide.

    "Until now, we don't know the reason (of the suicide) but our investigation will tell us quickly," he said.

    Asked if the suicide was linked to the United Nations investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Dakhlullah said, "Of course, the timing is sensitive. But I'm talking about facts and not suspicion and speculation."

    Kanaan, a former military intelligence chief in Lebanon for two decades from 1982 to 2002, was appointed interior minister last October in a cabinet reshuffle.

    Hours before his death, Kanaan interviewed with a Lebanese radio station by phone. He denied reports carried in Lebanese media that he showed the United Nations investigators cheques paid to him by Hariri.

    "I think this is the last statement I might give," Kanaan said at the end of the interview with Voice of Lebanon.   Kanaan was believed to be among senior Syrian officials inquired last month by Detlev Mehlis, chief the UN probe into the assassination of Hariri in a powerful car bomb blast in Beirut on Feb. 14.

    Kanaan's death came just days before the release of a UN reporton Hariri's assassination later this month.

    Hariri's killing has sparked massive anti-Syrian protests and led to Syrian troops' withdrawal from Lebanon in late April after 29 years of military presence.

    Many Lebanese blamed Syria and its Lebanese allies for Hariri's assassination, but Damascus denied any role.

    Earlier this year, the US treasury announced a freeze on the assets of Kanaan.

    Last month, the Lebanese Central Bank opened up the accounts of Kanaan to the UN investigators.

    Kanaan was born in 1942 in the northwestern coastal city of Latakia and had four sons and two daughters.  Enditem