Former Peru president Alan Garcia died in hospital on Wednesday after shooting himself in the head at his home as police were about to arrest him in a graft investigation, a party official said.

"Alan Garcia has died, long live Apra," said Omar Quesada, the general secretary of Garcia's American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (Apra) party.

In this file picture taken on November 15, 2018 Peruvian former president, Alan Garcia (2-R), arrives at the prosecutor office in Lima. (Photo: AFP)