Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga dies at 82 after a short illness

Former Italian President Cossiga dies

ROME — A Rome hospital says that former Italian President Francesco Cossiga, who helped lead the country’s fight against domestic terrorism in the 1980s, has died. He was 82 years old.

A few hours earlier on Tuesday, the Gemelli Polyclinic said that Cossiga, a veteran Christian Democrat, had taken a “drastic” turn for the worse during the night with circulatory problems and had to be put back on a life support apparatus.

He had been hospitalized there was week.

In 1978, Cossiga resigned from a top government post in bitterness after failing to save the life of kidnapped Christian Democratic leader Aldo Moro.