Report: Uzbek government says President Karimov has died

FILE – In this Monday, April 15, 2013 file photo, Uzbek President Islam Karimov leaves a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier in Moscow, Russia. A national newsreader has delivered a televised Independence Day speech on behalf of ailing President Islam Karimov, who remains hospitalized in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, with a suspected brain hemorrhage. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, file)

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s state news agency is citing the government of Uzbekistan as saying that President Islam Karimov has died.

The 78-year-old Karimov was the only leader independent Uzbekistan ever had. He was reported to have been hospitalized last week and rumors of his death have circulated for days.

The RIA-Novosti news agency on Friday cited the Uzbek government as saying his funeral would be held on Saturday.