Libya confirms army chief killed in Turkey plane crash

The chief of staff of the Libyan army, Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad, died in a plane crash after leaving the Turkish capital Ankara.

There were four other people on board.

“This happened after a tragic and painful incident while returning from an official trip from Ankara, Türkiye. This heavy loss is a great loss for the nation, the military establishment and the entire people,” Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said on Tuesday. he said.

The commander of the Libyan ground forces, the director of the military production authority, an advisor to the chief of staff and a photographer from the chief of staff’s office were also on the plane, he said.

Minister of Internal Affairs Ali Yerlikaya said on the X channel that the plane took off from Ankara Esenboğa Airport towards Tripoli and the radio connection was lost. He said that authorities found the wreckage of the plane near Kesikkavak village in Ankara’s Haymana district.

He added that the Dassault Falcon 50 type jet requested an emergency landing while over Haymana, but no contact was made.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

The accident occurred a day after the Turkish parliament adopted a resolution to extend the deployment of Turkish troops in Libya for another two years.

NATO member Turkey provided military and political support to Libya’s Tripoli-based, internationally recognized government. In 2020, he sent military personnel there to train and support his government, and a maritime border agreement was later reached, which was discussed by Egypt and Greece.

In 2022, Ankara and Tripoli also signed a preliminary agreement on energy exploration, which Egypt and Greece also oppose.

However, Türkiye recently changed course in line with the “One Libya” policy and increased its contacts with the eastern flank of Libya.