CAIRO -- Hundreds of Arab and Muslim leaders and officials participated Friday in the funeral procession of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Cairo.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak led Arab leaders in the procession from the al-Galaa Mosque to Cairo International Airport, where Arafat's body would be placed on a flight to the West Bank town of Ramallah for burial.

Arafat's coffin, draped in the Palestinian flag, was placed on a traditional cannon carriage pulled by four uniformed horsemen as an Egyptian military band played mourning music.

Arab and Muslim leaders converged on the Egyptian capital earlier in the day to pay their last respects to Arafat, who died in a Paris hospital early Thursday.

Mubarak, wearing dark sunglasses, and Palestinian leaders had received condolences from Arab dignitaries in a colorful tent at the al-Galaa Mosque before walking behind Arafat's casket to the airport.

The leaders, dressed in black, as well as Arafat's wife, Suha, and their 9-year-old daughter, Zahwa, watched as Arafat's body was placed aboard the Egyptian aircraft. The military band played the Palestinian and Egyptian national anthems as tears rolled down the faces of Arafat's widow and daughter.

Mubarak had offered to host the state funeral for Arafat, who grew up in Cairo, to allow Arab leaders unable to travel to the Palestinian territories to pay their last respects to the Palestinian leader.

Copyright 2004 by United Press International