AP war reporter who had been kidnapped by Lebanese terror group Hezbollah dies in US at 76

Anderson, who was AP's chief Middle East correspondent, became a notable name after he was kidnapped while covering war-torn Lebanon in 1985. He was held captive by Islamic militants for almost 7 years, making him one of America's longest-held hostages. He returned to the US in 1991.

He died on Sunday in the comfort of his home in Greenwood Lake, New York. His cause of death is currently unknown, however, his daughter, Sulome Anderson, said that he recently had heart surgery, the outlet reported.

Anderson wrote a best-selling memoir in 1993 titled "Den of Lions," in which he chronicled his abduction, imprisonment, and torture by members of the Shiite Muslim terror group, Lebanon's Hezbollah.

While in captivity in Beirut, Anderson suffered severe brutality in which he was beaten, chained to a wall, had guns pressed against his head, and threatened with death. He was also kept in solitary confinement for long periods of time, according to his memoir.

On March 16, 1985, Anderson was captured by Hezbollah when he was dropping off his colleague, Don Mell, an AP photographer, at his home in Lebanon after an early morning tennis match. He was dragged from his car by armed kidnappers.

He was among one of 18 Western hostages taken by the terrorists who had the backing of Iran and were taking revenge for Israel's previous use of American weaponry against Druze and Muslim targets in Lebanon. Additionally, they had been trying to pressure the Reagan administration in an illicit arms sales to Iran.

The plot, which came to be known as the Iran-Contra Affair, involved the administration's plan to use the money from the sales of weapons to covertly support the right-wing Contra rebels in Nicaragua, according to the New York Times.

Anderson was the last hostage to be released and was returned to the US in 1991.

He was born on Oct. 27, 1947, and grew up in the small town of Vermilion, Ohio, on Lake Erie.