Gen. Mohammed Lamari, who led Algeria’s military during a decade of civil war that crushed the nation’s Islamic rebel groups, died Monday. He was 73.

Lamari died after being rushed to a hospital in the town of Biskra south of Algiers, the news agency quoted his brother, Khaled, as saying. The Ministry of Defense said the cause of death was a heart attack.

Lamari was one of the generals who overthrew Algeria’s government in January 1992 to forestall what appeared to be an upcoming victory by an Islamist victory after the first round of a national election.