Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Kuwait's ruling emir, the 86-year-old HH Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, has died, state television reported Saturday.
Kuwait TV broke into programming with Quranic verses just before making the announcement.
The Amiri Diwan announced on Saturday demise in a statement carried by Kuwait news agency (KUNA) "With deep grief and regret, we mourn to the Kuwaiti people, the Arab and Muslim nations and friendly people demise of His Highness the Amir of the State of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who passed away today Saturday... We pray to His Almighty Allah so he may bestow upon the deceased his unlimited mercy and embrace his soul in his vast paradise."
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He was defence minister when Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait in 1990, sparking the beginning of the Gulf War, and later went onto serve as interior minister.
Compared to his predecessor, who served as emir for more than a decade and shaped the country's foreign policy for 50 years, Sheikh Nawaf's time as ruler was relatively short.
Kuwait - which has a population of 4.8 million, including 3.4 million foreign workers - has the world's sixth-largest known oil reserves and is a major US ally.
The emirate's parliament has the most powers of any elected body in the Gulf and opposition MPs openly criticise the Sabahs.
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