Chile's Pinochet in hospital after heart attack

SANTIAGO, Chile, Dec 3 (Reuters) Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet suffered a heart attack today and was in serious but stable condition in a military hospital, the hospital said.

Pinochet, who stands accused of human rights abuses and corruption from his iron-fisted rule from 1973 to 1990, underwent a heart bypass operation as doctors worked to ''practically bring him back from death,'' his son said.

''He's in a pretty serious state ... We're in the hands of God and the doctors,'' Pinochet's son Marco Antonio Pinochet told reporters outside the hospital in Santiago where his father was being treated.

Luis Cortes Villa, a friend of Pinochet's, told reporters at that the retired general, who has been frail for some time, had never been so ill.

Pinochet had fallen ill at about 1030 ist. The hospital issued a statement saying he had had ''a cardiac arrest ... and a pulmonary edema,'' adding that it would give an update at 1730 ist. The statement listed Pinochet's condition as ''serious but stable.'' Pinochet has spent the past few years in Santiago fighting allegations of human rights abuses and fraud. Under his regime more than 3,000 people died in political violence, many at the hands of secret police.

Despite concerted efforts, no one has ever brought the former dictator to trial. His defense lawyers have always successfully argued that he was too ill to face charges.

Pinochet marked his birthday last week by issuing a statement in which he accepted ''political responsibility'' for acts committed during his rule. However, he said his only motive was to make Chile ''a great place and prevent its disintegration.'' ''Today, close to the end of my days, I want to make clear that I hold no rancor toward anybody, that I love my country above all else,'' he said in the statement.

Two days later he was placed under house arrest in connection with the murder of two bodyguards of former Marxist President Salvador Allende -- the man he overthrew in a 1973 coup.

Human rights lawyers have complained in the past that Pinochet's health deteriorates every time he is placed under house arrest.

Despite Pinochet's dismal human rights record, many Chileans love him and said he saved Chile from Marxism. Many of them abandoned him, however, after it came out in 2004 that he had stashed some 27 million dollars in secret off-shore bank accounts during his time in power.

Pinochet has been arrested several times for crimes allegedly committed during his rule.

In addition to the 3,000 killed or ''disappeared'' during Pinochet's rule, some 28,000 people were tortured and thousands of Chileans left the country for exile.

REUTERS SP KP1744