Nuremberg, Germany - Chingiz Aitmatov, 79, Kyrgyzstan's best-known author, died Tuesday of pneumonia at a hospital in the southern German city of Nuremberg, the hospital said. The author of the 1958 literary love story Jamilya was flown to Germany last month after becoming ill during film work, 800 kilometres east of Moscow. Russian doctors diagnosed kidney failure.
Nuremberg City Hospital put him into intensive care. Doctors said he was suffering from lung and renal failure after catching pneumonia. Aitmatov was for a time Kyrgyz ambassador to Brussels.
