The United States says its special forces in the Iraqi capital Baghdad have captured Abu Abbas, the leader of Palestinian hijackers who seized an Italian cruise ship in the Mediterranean in 1985.
An elderly American tourist in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer, was killed during the hijacking of the Achille Lauro, and his body thrown into the sea. Abbas eluded capture at the time but was convicted in absentia by a court in Italy for masterminding the attack. The BBC’s Ian Pannell, in Washington, says the US will regard his capture as an important victory in the war on terrorism, as well as something of a vindication of the charge that the regime of Saddam Hussein was connected to terrorist groups. Abbas and the group he led, a faction of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), have been based in Iraq for the past 17 years. Full Story
