Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has died in Dubai aged 79 after a long illness, the army said Sunday.

Senior military chiefs "express heartfelt condolences on sad demise of General Pervez Musharraf", a brief statement released by the military's media wing said. "May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to bereaved family."

The four-star general died in hospital in Dubai on Sunday morning, according to media reports and a senior security official who spoke to AFP.

"I can confirm that the late general breathed his last in Dubai this morning ... He is no more," the official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

Musharraf seized power in 1999 in a bloodless coup after the then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif tried to dismiss him as army chief, having appointed him above more senior officers a year earlier.

In more than seven years in office, he oversaw a stint of economic growth while dodging at least three assassination attempts.