Washington ? American officials on Wednesday weighed options for handling terrorist mastermind Abul Abbas as Italy prepared to seek his extradition and the Palestinian Authority demanded his release.

U.S. officials would not disclose their plans for Abbas, captured by American Special Operations forces Monday night in Iraq during one of several raids in and around Baghdad. The raids on hideouts of Abbas’ Palestine Liberation Front also nabbed other suspects and turned up weapons including rocket-propelled grenades, passports from Yemen and Lebanon and other documents, military officials said.

U.S. officials view Abbas’ capture as a major win in the war on terrorism and a vindication of President Bush’s charge that Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was harboring terrorists.

No matter where they take Abbas — his real name is Mohammed Abbas — his American captors are sure to grill him about his ties to other terrorists and Saddam, who sheltered Abbas for years.

“Justice will be served,” said Marine Maj. Brad Bartelt, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command.

Abbas’ interrogators also will want to hear about the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship in the Mediterranean Sea, during which an elderly American passenger, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot to death and dumped overboard in his wheelchair. Abbas was convicted by an Italian court in absentia for plotting the hijacking and sentenced to life in prison.

Italian Justice Minister Roberto Castelli said Wednesday that his country would seek Abbas’ extradition.

“Now we know he has been captured in Iraq, but that he’s in the hands of American authorities. We will have to clarify some legal questions as to whom to request the extradition, which we’ll do as soon as possible,” he said.

Klinghoffer’s daughters, Lisa and Ilsa Klinghoffer, said Wednesday on NBC’s “Today” show that they wanted Abbas returned to the United States for trial and sentencing.

“We want him brought here, and we want him tried here, in our country, and we want to know that he’s going to serve his full sentence, which is hopefully a life sentence,” said Lisa Klinghoffer.

The Palestinian Authority demanded Abbas’ release, saying his arrest violated a 1995 interim agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that was also signed by then-U.S. President Clinton. According to the deal, no PLO officials were to be arrested for violent acts committed before the 1993 Israel-PLO pact of mutual recognition, said a Palestinian Cabinet minister, Saeb Erekat.

Erekat said Abbas has visited Palestinian areas repeatedly since 1996 with Israeli and U.S. acquiescence.