Iraqi Agriculture Minister Dies In Rome

Khaled Abdel-Munim Rashid, the Iraqi agriculture minister said to be a close friend of Saddam Hussein, has died in a hotel in Rome where he was attending a U.N. conference.

Iraqi officials said Rashid died Friday night of a heart attack. He was leading Iraq’s delegation to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s conference.

An Iraqi embassy spokesman in Amman, Jordan, said Rashid was 50. The spokesman, Adel Ibrahim, said he died of a heart attack.

Rashid was appointed agriculture minister in April. He previously worked as chief of Saddam’s presidential office and had been mayor of Baghdad.