It's a marriage of love and of compatibility of ideas

Isabelle Countant-Peyre

His fiancee, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, said their wedding would take place at the French prison where Carlos, whose real name is Illich Ramirez Sanchez, is serving a life sentence.

Carlos and Ms Countant-Peyre are both currently going through divorce proceedings with their current spouses.

Carlos, a 51-year-old Venezuelan, gained international notoriety as a mastermind of deadly bombings, assassinations and hostage-takings.

He was snatched in Sudan in 1994 and is now serving his sentence in Paris for the murder of two French security agents and a Lebanese informer.

'Conformist'

Announcing the marriage plans, Ms Countant-Peyre said: "It's a marriage of love and of compatibility of ideas.

"Between the image of him that is presented and the reality of what he is, there is a big difference. He is far more conformist than I."

Carlos is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of more than 80 people.

He established his reputation in 1975 when he took 70 people hostage at a meeting in Vienna of ministers from the oil cartel Opec, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Three people were killed as he and his group of terrorists stormed into the building firing machine guns.