July 23, 1999
Web posted at: 4:05 p.m. EDT (2005 GMT)

RABAT, Morocco (CNN) -- Morocco's King Hassan II, whose health had been fragile in recent years, died Friday at a hospital in the capital of Rabat, sources tell CNN.

The all-powerful monarch, who had been an important unifying force in his North African nation, was 70.

In a statement Friday, the Royal Palace medical staff announced that the king had been admitted to Avicennes Hospital with "acute pneumonia, which requires a cardiac and respiratory surveillance."

State-run television later interrupted programming, without explanation, to read verses from the Koran.