MANAMA Bahrain's Emir Sheikh Issa ibn Salman al-Khalifa died of natural causes on Saturday, a Bahraini official announced. The emir died suddenly of natural causes after a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen, an official of the Bahraini defense forces said. Cohen was to give a press conference after the meeting, but it was called off. The defense secretary, on the first leg of a Persian Gulf tour, also postponed his departure for Saudi Arabia. The emir, who was born in 1934, has ruled the archipelago state since 1961, when he succeeded his father Sheikh Salman to the throne.

Sheikh Issa took the title of emir in August 1971. (AFP)