BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 11 (UPI) -- The Palestine Liberation Front vowed Thursday to avenge the death of Abu Abbas which it blamed on U.S. forces who held him prisoner in Iraq.
A PLF official in Lebanon, Abbas Jomaa, said the group "will take revenge from the Americans who assassinated Abu Abbas in one of their prisons in Iraq."
Abbas, whose real name is Mahmoud Abbas, died Monday in U.S. custody from heart failure. He reportedly suffered high-blood pressure and heart disease.
The PLF accused the U.S. forces in Iraq of depriving him of his medication leading up to the severe stroke that caused his death.
"We hold the U.S. authorities responsible for the death of Abu Abbas and accuse them of violating human rights exactly like terrorist (Israeli Premier Ariel) Sharon is doing to the Palestinians in Israeli prisons," Jomaa said while receiving condolences at a south Lebanon Palestinian refugee camp.
Abbas is mostly remembered for mastermnding the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro, and the killing of a wheelchair-bound American, Leon Klinghoffer on board.
