Iraq's president sick, goes to Jordan for tests

BAGHDAD, Feb 25 (Reuters) Iraq's President Jalal Talabani is ill and has been told to travel to Jordan for tests, the president's office said today, giving no details of his illness but saying there was no cause for concern.

''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,'' a statement said.

''There is no cause for concern,'' it 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.

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