DHAKA, March 20: Bangladesh President Zillur Rahman, a veteran ruling party politician named to the largely ceremonial post in 2009, died on Wednesday in a Singapore hospital, officials said. He was 84.

Mr Rahman, who was suffering from kidney and respiratory problems, was flown to Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital by air ambulance on March 10 after his condition worsened.

The nation declared three days of mourning after his death in early evening in Singapore and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her shock and lamented “an irreparable loss to the country and its people”.

Mr Rahman’s secretary Shafiul Alam said the close aide of the nation’s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had been suffering from “old age complications”. He leaves behind a son, who is a lawmaker, and two daughters.

The body of the former deputy chief of the ruling Awami League will be flown back to the country on Thursday, he said.—AFP