"He has been captured by coalition forces in Baghdad," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Abbas, leader of the Palestine Liberation Front, had been living in Baghdad under the protection of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the official said.

Details of the capture were expected to be announced by the US Central Command, a US defense official said.

US Marines a week ago captured and searched a PLF training camp in Iraq where they discovered bomb-making facilities.

Chemicals, mortars, gas masks and AK-47s also were found inside the 20-building complex to the east of Baghdad, said Corporal John Hoellwarth, a Marine spokesman.

The complex, which was the size of a battalion headquarters, featured pictures of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, PLF faction leader Abbas and the PLF's flag, Hoellwarth added.

Other photos included pictures of Abu Abbas posing with a brigadier general from Saddam's Republican Guard inside the camp.

Abbas was sentenced in absentia in Italy to five life terms for his role in the Achille Lauro hijacking, in which an elderly, wheelchair-bound American tourist, Leon Klinghoffer, was murdered and thrown into the Mediterranean.

The Italian luxury liner, which was carrying more than 400 passengers and crew, was seized in Egyptian waters by four heavily armed Palestinians who demanded that Israel free 50 Palestinian prisoners.

Denied docking rights in Syria, they decided to kill one of the passengers to show that they were serious.

Klinghoffer, 69, was pushed to the side of the ship, where one of the terrorist shot him in the head and chest and then threw his body overboard.

Egypt, unaware that Klinghoffer had been murdered, gave the hijackers safe passage in exchange for freeing the ship and its passengers.

But US Navy F-14 fighters from the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga intercepted an Egyptian airliner flying the terrorists to Tunisia, forcing it to land at a NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily. The terrorist surrendered and were taken into Italian custody.

His group's 1990 attack on a seaside hotel in Tel Aviv prompted the first Bush administration to sever contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization. The contacts were resumed after the 1993 Oslo accords.

SPACE.WIRE