Steven Spielberg's new film about the Israeli campaign to assassinate the Palestinian terrorists responsible for the 1972 Olympics massacre has been officially titled Munich, leading entertainment magazine Variety reported yesterday.

Tight security has made it practically impossible to get any information about the film, which Mr Spielberg is currently shooting in Malta.

The project has been mired in controversy since reports surfaced that the film was based on a book called Vengeance, whose accuracy has been widely questioned, Variety said.

Steven Spielberg's spokesman Marvin Levy told Variety much of the Vengeance criticism was the result of a misinformation campaign waged by Israelis who had been upset that the book revealed the assassination squad was authorised by Minister Golda Meir. For the third week running, Munich is being filmed in several locations around Malta, with shooting taking place once again in Valletta yesterday.

But the film has not been without hitches. A brand new Mercedes truck containing equipment belonging to Mr Spielberg was engulfed by flames last week, leading to rumours that the set was being sabotaged due to the film's terrorism theme. Eventually foul play was ruled out and the police put the incident down to negligence.

In the meantime, many people have been making a quick buck by renting out their properties for the film or having their shop-signs modified into some foreign language.

Passengers landing at Malta International Airport on Friday would have been forgiven for thinking they had landed in Israel by mistake because a section of the airport hoisted Israeli flags while place names and traffic signs were in Hebrew.