Li Peng, Butcher of Beijing, dies at 91

Beijing : China's former premier Li Peng, regarded as a staunch supporter of the ruling Communist Party's iron-fisted clampdown on the pro-democracy student protests at the Tiananmen Square in 1989, died in Beijing, officials said here on Tuesday.

Li died of illness in Beijing at the age of 91 on Monday night, an official statement said. He visited India in 2001 as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), the communist nation's Parliament.

The former premier was extolled as an "excellent party member, a time-tested and loyal communist soldier, and an outstanding proletarian revolutionist, statesman and leader of the party and the state" in an obituary notice jointly issued by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the NPC Standing Committee, the State Council and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.