Bangladesh shipping minister Akbar Hossain has died after suffering a heart attack, an official said on Monday.
Hossain, 65, went to hospital in the capital Dhaka late last night complaining of chest pain.
"Shipping minister Akbar Hossain, a veteran freedom fighter, died after a massive cardiac arrest in Shikder medical college in Dhaka late Sunday", said shipping ministry spokesman Shafiqul Islam.
Hossain, a retired lieutenant colonel, received one of country's highest wartime gallantry awards for his role in Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in a message of condolence said the country had lost a "patriotic politician and efficient minister".
Hossain was elected to parliament in 1979 and was minister for petroleum and mineral resources in the government of former president Ziaur Rahman in the late 1970s.
Zia, Rahman's widow, also appointed him minister for environment and forests in 1993 during her first administration.