Iraq's president has heart surgery at Mayo Clinic

Iraqi president
Iraqi president Jalal Talabani speaks a meeting with President Bush in the Oval Office June 25, 2008. Talabani underwent heart surgery in early August at the Mayo Clinic.
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(AP) - Iraq's President Jalal Talabani has undergone heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., two Iraqi Kurdish politicians said Thursday.

The two senior officials from Talabani's party said the eight-hour surgery took place at the Mayo Clinic on August 6, and that it was successful.

Talabani is in good condition and is expected to leave the hospital on Saturday, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release the information. They did not say why Talabani needed heart surgery.

The 74-year-old Iraqi leader flew to the U.S. on August 2, for what his office at the time said was an operation on Talabani's left knee.

Mayo Clinic spokesman Bryan Anderson said that at Talabani's request, the clinic has no comment.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)