World leaders on Friday bade an emotional farewell to Yasser Arafat at a solemn military funeral at the Al Maza air base on the outskirts of Cairo, capital of Egypt, before his body was flown to his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah for burial.
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India was represented at the funeral by a high-level delegation led by External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh. Arafat was one of India's close friends in the Arab world and his struggle for an independent Palestine state was supported by New Delhi.
Wrapped in the Egyptian flag, Arafat's wooden coffin was brought to a mosque near the air base where a prayer, attended by several world leaders, was held.
"He has served his people all his life, until he faced his god, with courage and honesty. Let us pray for his soul," Egypt's top Muslim cleric Grand Sheik of Al-Azhar mosque Mohammed Sayed Tantawi said in his sermon.
The Egyptian television aired the ceremony live. Journalists were not allowed in the mosque.
After the brief prayer, eight dark-suited pallbearers carried the casket out of the mosque and handed it to an Egyptian honour guard. They placed it inside a silver hearse.
The world leaders, led by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, walked behind the hearse in a procession to the air base where a military guard of honour was presented to the late leader before his body was flown to Ramallah.
Arafat's widow Suha and their nine-year-old daughter Zahawa were present, with Egyptian First Lady Suzanne by their side.
