Thousands attend funeral of former Iraqi President

Mosul (Iraq), Oct 6 (IANS)  Thousands of people on Friday bid farewell to former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani who died earlier this week.

Tatabani's funeral in northern Iraq was attended by several high-level officials including President Fuad Masum, President of Iraqi Kurdistan Masoud Barzani, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Iraqi Interior Minister Qasim al-Araji, Efe news reported.

Talabani, a veteran leader of the Kurdish struggle for self-determination, was in coma when he died in a German hospital on Tuesday. 

His body was flown to the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, his hometown, where a red carpet and a guard of honour awaited on the tarmac on Friday.

The death of the 83-year-old came at a sensitive time in relations between Kurdish leaders and Baghdad. 

Last week, people living in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence for the Kurdistan Region in a referendum, despite outrage in Baghdad, Iran and Turkey.

Talabani had not been well enough to give his views on the referendum, but it had been only half-heartedly backed by his Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, BBC reported.

He had historically opposed full Kurdish independence, arguing for semi-autonomy within a democratic Iraq. 

The flight carrying Talabani's body was given special dispensation to land amid an Iraqi-government-imposed ban on international flights to the Kurdistan Region following the plebiscite.

The coffin was received by a guard of honour and given a 21-gun salute, followed by the Iraqi national anthem, on the tarmac of Sulaimaniya airport. It was then taken to the city's grand mosque.