ISLAMABAD, Feb 5 (AFP) - Pakistan’s former president Pervez Musharraf has died after a prolonged illness at a hospital in Dubai, military sources confirmed to Al Jazeera on Sunday. He was 79.

Musharraf, a four-star general, ruled Pakistan for nearly a decade after seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

The former general was suffering from amyloidosis – a rare disease that causes organ damage. He had long been bedridden and wheelchair-bound.

In a brief statement released by the military’s media wing, senior military personnel expressed their “heartfelt condolences” on the demise of the former military ruler.

“May Allah (God) bless the departed soul and give strength to bereaved family.”

Musharraf, a former special forces commando, became president through the last of a string of military coups that roiled Pakistan since its founding amid the bloody 1947 partition of India.

He ruled the nuclear-armed state after his 1999 coup through tensions with India, an atomic proliferation scandal and an insurgency. He stepped down in 2008 while facing possible impeachment.