Egypt's former Vice President Omar Suleiman died in the early hours of Thursday in one of U.S. hospitals, state Nile TV reported.

Egypt's official MENA news agency confirmed the news, quoting a high-level diplomatic source in Washington as saying that the Egyptian embassy in the United States is taking necessary measures to transfer Suleiman's body to Egypt.

Suleiman's health extremely deteriorated three weeks ago and was transferred to Celveland hospital in Ohio state, where he died early Thursday.

Suleiman, former intelligence chief, was appointed by Egyptian ex-President Hosni Mubarak on Jan. 29, 2011, as the country's first vice president in 30 years, several days before Mubarak's step-down.

He made a statement on Feb. 11, 2011, authorizing the military council to manage the state affairs after Mubarak's ouster.

Suleiman announced on April 6, 2012, to run in the presidential election and submitted his application on April 7, but his papers were refused as the mandates he collected from citizens were not enough.

Suleiman was born in Egypt's southern town of Qena on July 2, 1936. He entered Cairo's military academy for study in 1954 and then went to the former Soviet Union to receive military training.

He was appointed Egypt's military intelligence chief in 1989, and served as director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Services since 1993.

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