The body of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has arrived in Cairo for a strictly controlled military funeral.

The planned 25-minute ceremony will be held at a military club in a Cairo suburb in a nod to security concerns. Dozens of heads of state and foreign ministers are expected to pay respect at the funeral, set for Friday morning, Cairo time.

Security authorities in the Egyptian capital mounted a high-level security operation around the airport, increasing police patrols and stationing observers on tall buildings.

After the funeral, Arafat's body will be taken to the Almaza military base near the club and then flown to Ramallah in the West Bank for burial on the same day.

Meanwhile, within hours of Ararat's death Thursday, Former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was named leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Abbas, known also by the nom de guerre Abu Mazen, helped found the PLO in 1964 and later served as secretary-general of the PLO executive committee and as a member of the Palestinian National Council, the PLO's legislature. He is viewed as being critical of the most recent round of the Palestinian intifada.