PUK acting head hospitalized for deteriorating health
SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region—Kosrat Rasul, the acting head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan’s former Vice President, has been hospitalized in Sulaimani for deteriorating health conditions, his office said in a statement.
The statement said that the veteran Peshmerga is now “under the intensive care” after he was rushed to hospital as his “health deteriorated.”
Masud Mala Hamza, his media officer, told Rudaw Rasul’s health deteriorated Saturday morning.
His office said that Rasul is receiving treatment, but did not disclose his conditions.
The 64-year old Kurdish leader has become the party’s acting head after the death of PUK’s founder Jalal Talabani on October 3.
The party decided last week to dissolve its politburo and form an 11-member committee to be headed by Rasul to prepare for its congress before April 2018, and run its affairs.
Rasul was instrumental in the Kurdish vote for independence on September 25 alongside former President Masoud Barzani.
He was in Kirkuk commanding Peshmerga units on October 16 when Iraqi forces and their allied Shiite militia attacked the then Kurdish-controlled province. The Peshmerga lost 26 fighters that day, many of whom were under the command of Rasul.
He blame some leaders from his own party for the fall of Kirkuk.
Last month, an Iraqi court issued an arrest warrant for Rasul accusing him of inciting violence against the Iraqi forces.
Rasul was last seen attending a memorial held for Talabani in Sulaimani on Friday.
He said that Talabani’s death was a “great loss for the Kurds, Kurdistan and Iraq. We should all try to fill the void he left.”
Addressing the issue of intra-Kurdish divisions in the wake of the Kirkuk crisis, Kosrat Rasul said it is time to “put the Kurdish house in order.”