Look who we found!! LOL!!
reuters.com
Palestinian Abu Abbas in U.S. Custody in Iraq
Tue April 15, 2003 06:01 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Palestinian guerrilla leader Abu Abbas, who masterminded the hijacking of an Italian cruise ship in 1985, was captured by U.S. special forces and is in U.S. custody in Baghdad, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.
Abbas, also known as Mohammed Abbas, is the leader of the Palestine Liberation Front, which hijacked the Achille Lauro in the eastern Mediterranean, resulting in the death of a disabled elderly American man, Leon Klinghoffer.
Abbas had spent most of the past 17 years in Iraq, beyond the reach of U.S. and Italian officials. He had been sentenced in Italy to five life terms in prison, and is wanted in the United States in connection with the cruise ship hijacking.
There were reports in January that Abbas was in Egypt to take part in talks to end Palestinian attacks on civilians in Israel, but Egyptian authorities denied he was in the country. "He's been captured. My understanding is he was captured during a raid on a house in the outskirts of Baghdad late last night," the U.S. official told Reuters.
"It was conducted by special forces," he said.
The capture of Abbas was first reported by CNN's national security correspondent David Ensor who said Abbas had been taken into custody by U.S. forces "in or near Baghdad." |
