Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf dies aged 79 following prolonged illness

General Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup and later led a reluctant Pakistan into aiding the US war in Afghanistan, has died aged 79.

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 through tensions with India and an Islamic extremist insurgency, before stepping down in 2008 while facing possible impeachment.

Later in life, Musharraf lived in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid criminal charges.

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