Former President Dies At 79

Pakistan’s former president, General PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and launched a fight against Islamist extremism, has died at the age of 79.

He was a controversial military ruler who led a reluctant Pakistan into aiding the U-S war in Afghanistan against the same Taliban fighters his nation had previously backed, even as Islamic militants twice targeted him for assassination.

General MUSHARRAF ruled the nuclear-armed state after his 1999 coup through turbulent times, including tensions with India, an atomic proliferation scandal and an Islamic extremist insurgency.