Former president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, is dead. He was 79. 

Mr Musharraf died in a Dubai hospital after a prolonged illness, military sources confimed to Al Jazeera on Sunday.

He suffered amyloidosis – a rare severe diseases that cause organ damage which had kept him bedridden and on wheelchair for a long time. 

He was the country’s president for almost a decade after he took power as a four-star general and special forces commander in a bloodless coup in 1999.

He presided through the last of a string of military coups in Pakistan after the country pulld out from India. 

Through hostilities with India, the US-led “war on terror,” and an armed revolt that resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, he ruled the nuclear-armed state and resigned In 2008 while facing possible impeachment. 

Senior military officials expressed their “heartfelt condolences” on the passing of the former military leader in a brief statement issued by the military’s media wing.

“May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to [his] bereaved family,” the statement read.