CAIRO, Nov 12: Tears ran down the cheeks of Yasser Arafat's widow Suha and his nine-year-old daughter Zahwa on Friday as pallbearers loaded the coffin containing the Palestinian leader's body on a plane in Cairo.

The two wept as the body was hoisted into a cargo plane and a military band played the Palestinian national anthem at the end of a funeral attended by scores of foreign dignitaries from the world over.

It was an outburst of emotion few had seen before from Suha Arafat, who was best known in the region for her lavish lifestyle in Paris while her husband was trapped in his Ramallah compound.

Suha wore a black dress with her head covered by a black scarf while Zahwa wore a a light white coat. Before Arafat was flown last month from Ramallah to the French hospital where he died on Thursday, neither Suha or Zahwa had seen the Palestinian leader for about three years.

Egypt's First Lady, Suzanne Mubarak, comforted the two, supporting Suha as the crowd of kings, presidents and princes who made the journey to Cairo bid farewell to Arafat. -AFP