Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova, who has been hospitalized since Saturday at a US military hospital in Germany, is in a very serious condition, the official Tanjug news agency reported on Wednesday.

Rugova, 60-year-old, was said to be ill with flu last week and canceled some engagements, said the reports from Pristina.

A lack of information on Rugova's condition has triggered numerous speculations, the reports said, adding that Rugova is reportedly affected by lung cancer.

It said that one of the Kosovo president's spokesmen declined to comment on Rugova's health.

Rugova has been at the forefront of Kosovo's attempt to gain independence from Serbia, with the United Nations due to decide in September whether the de facto protectorate can begin final status talks.

The former literature professor led passive resistance in Kosovo in the 1990s before being sidelined by hardline Albanian rebels who took up arms against Serbian forces. He came back to win Kosovo's presidency in 2002 and was reelected last October.

Rugova, escaped unhurt when a bomb blast rocked his car in Pristina in March, heads the Democratic League of Kosovo, the largest party in an interim coalition government.

Source: Xinhua