Abbas dies in US custody in Iraq

Abu Abbas, the Palestinian mastermind of the Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking in 1985, has died of natural causes in US custody in Iraq, a top Palestinian official told Reuters yesterday.

"We have been informed that Mohammed Abbas or Abu Abbas, head of the Palestine Liberation Front, who has been held in American custody, has died in Iraq," said the official, who is close to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

He added that Abbas's death was "related to his deteriorating health situation".

Abbas had been held under US custody since April when US special forces invading Iraq arrested him as he tried to flee to Syria.

A US military spokesman in Baghdad declined to comment.

Abbas masterminded the hijacking of the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro in October 1985 during which a wheelchair-bound American Jew, 69-year-old Leon Klinghoffer, was killed and dumped into the sea.

Abbas's Palestine Liberation Front operated out of Tunisia until the Achille Lauro hijacking, after which it relocated to Iraq. His faction was also behind several attacks in Israel.

Abbas was believed to be in his early 60s.