TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) – Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi sent a message to Sulejman Tihic, the Muslim member of Bosnia's presidency condoling the Bosnian people and government over the sad death of Alija Izetbegovic, the former Bosnia president.

As a popular figure in the volatile history of Balkans Izetbegoic defended the Bosnian identity and territorial integrity and made great efforts for keeping together different races in this Balkan state, Kharrazi said in his message.

Izetbegovic, the former Bosnian president who steered Bosnia through independence and the worst bloodshed in Europe since World War II, died Sunday at age 78.

The former Bosnian leader died of complications that developed after he was hospitalized for injuries sustained from a fall in his home, Dr. Ismet Gavrankapetanovic, the head of Sarajevo's Kosovo clinic, was quoted as saying by state radio.

Of the three leaders in charge as the Bosnian war broke out, Izetbegovic lasted the longest. Slobodan Milosevic was ousted as Yugoslav president in 2000 and was later extradited to the UN war tribunal where he now stands trial for alleged war crimes in Bosnia and elsewhere. Franjo Tudjman, Croatia's president, died in office in 1999.

His bookish manner making him an unlikely warrior, Izetbegovic nonetheless demonstrated steely will long before the start of the Bosnian conflict.

He was sentenced twice for his political views and spent nearly nine years in jails in Communist Yugoslavia -- the state created by Josip Broz Tito. Under the motto "Brotherhood and Unity," Tito and his immediate successors stamped on any expression of nationalism.

In 1983, he was sentenced to 14 years in jail for writing an "Islamic Declaration," but was released in 1988 after his sentence was reduced.

Izetbegovic was treated several times for heart problems. He is survived by his wife, Halida, and three children -- Sabina, mathematician daughter Lejla and architect son Bakir.