Iraqi president to Jordan for blood pressure tests

BAGHDAD, Feb 25 (Reuters) Iraq's President Jalal Talabani is ill and traveled to Jordan for tests after a drop in blood pressure, a senior government official said today, but his office said there was no cause for concern.

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih told Reuters Talabani left for Amman on Sunday afternoon and would be treated at a specialist hospital in the Jordanian capital.

''He had a drop in blood pressure. Doctors said he needs further tests,'' said Salih, a Kurd who is very close to the president, a former Kurdish guerrilla leader.

A statement from Talabani's office said: ''There is no cause for concern,'' but gave no details of his illness.

''Because of his hard work in past days, President Jalal Talabani has become ill and the doctors advised him to take some tests and now he is on his way to Jordan,'' the statement said.

Yesterday, Talabani met US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad in the largely autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq and held a joint press conference with Kurdish regional president Masoud Barzani.

Talabani, who is in his early 70s, heads the secular, socialist Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of two parties that dominate the Kurdish enclave that broke away from Baghdad's control after the 1991 Gulf war.

A former guerrilla leader who fought Saddam for years, Talabani capped a life dedicated to the Kurdish cause by becoming Iraq's first Kurdish head of state.

REUTERS SBA RN0038