India, Dec. 30 -- Bangladesh's first female Prime Minister, Khaleda Zia, died early Tuesday morning after a prolonged illness, her party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), confirmed.

"The BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister, national leader Begum Khaleda Zia, passed away today at 6 a.m., just after the Fajr (dawn) prayer," the party said in a statement. It urged supporters to pray for her departed soul.

Zia, 80, had suffered from advanced liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and heart and chest problems, her doctors said.

Her decades-long rivalry with Sheikh Hasina shaped Bangladesh's political landscape for a generation. Despite facing corruption charges she claimed were politically motivated, the Supreme Court acquitted ...