jasdooit

The leader of Libya’s military and four other senior officers were killed late Tuesday when their private jet crashed moments after departing from Ankara, according to officials in Turkey’s capital and Tripoli.

Turkish security forces discovered the remains of their Falcon 50 aircraft in the Haymana area close to Ankara, according to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya. Three crew members were also killed.

Libya’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah expressed on his Facebook page: “It is with profound sadness and immense grief that we learned about the passing of the head of the Libyan army’s general staff, Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Haddad.”

Haddad met in Ankara on Tuesday with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler and his Turkish counterpart, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, before heading back to Tripoli.

Yerlikaya stated on X that Haddad’s aircraft departed from Ankara’s Esenboga Airport at 1710 GMT, and “communication was lost” 42 minutes thereafter.

The aircraft sent out an emergency landing alert near Haymana — 74 kilometers (45 miles) from Ankara — but communication could not be restored, according to the minister.

A high-ranking Turkish official stated that the aircraft asked for an emergency landing due to an electrical malfunction 16 minutes following its departure.

The aircraft had eight passengers, including Haddad, four of his associates, and three crew members. “They reported an emergency to the air traffic control center because of an electrical issue, requesting an emergency landing,” said Burhanettin Duran, head of the presidency’s communications directorate, on X.

Turkish Minister of Justice Yilmaz Tunc stated that the chief prosecutor’s office in Ankara has initiated an inquiry into the event.

-‘Like a bomb’-

Numerous Turkish media platforms aired footage depicting the sky illuminated by an explosion near the site where the aircraft transmitted a signal.

Burhan Cicek, a resident of Haymana, remembered the time when the aircraft crashed.

“I heard a loud explosion. It sounded like a bomb,” he said to AFP.

The Libyan envoy in Ankara was also present at the location.

Walid Ellafi, the Libyan minister of state for communication and political affairs, stated to the local TV channel Libya al-Ahrar that the Turkish government had notified his administration about the incident.

The minister stated, ‘We received a call from the Turkish authorities right after the incident, indicating that communication with the aircraft had been lost.’

“Communication with the aircraft was lost approximately 30 minutes after departing from Ankara airport because of a technical issue,” he stated.

We are waiting for the results of the Turkish inquiry, and it seems the plane has crashed.

The minister stated that the other individuals on the plane were Haddad’s advisor, Mohammed Al-Assawi, along with Major General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, Major General Mohammed Jumaa, and their security officer, Mohammed Al-Mahjoub.

Haddad served as the army’s chief of general staff from August 2020 onward, having been nominated by former prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj.

Libya is divided between a government in Tripoli, which is not recognized by the United Nations and is headed by Dbeibah, and an administration in the east led by commander Khalifa Haftar.

The nation in North Africa has remained split following a rebellion supported by NATO that overthrew and resulted in the death of long-time leader Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

Turkey maintains strong connections with the UN-recognized government in Tripoli, offering it financial and military assistance, with regular exchanges between the two parties.

However, Ankara has recently also contacted the opposing administration in the east, with the head of Turkey’s intelligence agency, Ibrahim Kalin, meeting Haftar in Benghazi in August.

burs-fo/gv

The post Top military leader of Libya dies in aircraft accident in Turkey appeared first on English – Morocco News.