RABAT - Moroccan Minister of State Abdellah Baha died Sunday night in a train accident in the suburbs of the capital Rabat, said a statement of the Moroccan ministry of interior.

According to a local media, Baha was hit by a passing train while he was checking the location where Ahmed Zaidi, one of the charismatic leaders of the Moroccan socialist party USFP, died in November.

Baha, vice-president of Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), which came to power in 2011, was a close friend of Moroccan Premier Abdelilah Benkirane.

Baha had served as deputy secretary general of PJD since 2004, and as a lawmaker representing Rabat for three consecutive terms since the 2002 legislative elections.