The government of Argentina has said it will not accept the body of convicted Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke, who died in Italy on Friday, aged 100.

CEOAFRICA.Com learnt that Priebke fled to Argentina after World War II and lived for nearly 40 years in the Andean resort of Bariloche before his identity was unveiled in 1994.

He was later extradited to Italy and sentenced to life imprisonment.

According to an Italian official, he had said that Priebke's body was to be buried next to that of his wife in Argentina.

Priebke, a former SS captain, was found guilty of ordering a massacre at Rome's Ardeatine caves in March 1944, a crime for which he never expressed remorse.

The bloodbath left 335 people dead, including 75 Jews.

Priebke was jailed for life in 1998 but because of his age and poor health, he was allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest in the capital.