Libya’s army chief killed in Ankara plane crash after high-level talks with Turkish officials
Libya’s chief of general staff was killed when a military aircraft crashed shortly after departing Ankara following an official visit to Turkey, Libyan and Turkish officials say.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah confirmed the death of Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad and four other members of his delegation late Tuesday, describing the incident as a “tragic and painful” loss for the country and its military institution.
A plane reportedly carrying Libya’s Army Chief of General Staff lost radar contact over Ankara, Turkey, prompting closure of the city’s airspace. Turkish authorities confirmed the jet is out of contact, Interior Minister says.
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The aircraft was en route from Ankara to Tripoli when it went down in central Turkey, the officials said.
According to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, the Dassault Falcon 50 business jet took off from Ankara’s Esenboga Airport at 1710 GMT. Radio contact with air traffic control was lost at 1752 GMT, while the aircraft was flying over the Haymana district, south of the Turkish capital.
The crew had requested an emergency landing, but communication could not be re-established. The wreckage was later located near Kesikkavak village in remote terrain approximately 75 kilometers (46 miles) south of Ankara.
Turkish authorities temporarily closed Ankara’s airspace as search and rescue teams were deployed. Gendarmerie forces eventually located the crash site several hours after the aircraft disappeared from radar.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said Turkey had opened a formal investigation into the incident. The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has assigned five prosecutors to examine all aspects of the crash, with one deputy chief prosecutor coordinating the probe. Officials said the investigation was being conducted thoroughly, and the cause of the crash has not yet been determined.
Alongside al-Haddad, those killed included the commander of Libya’s ground forces, Major General al-Faituri Ghraibil; director of the Military Manufacturing Authority, Brigadier Mahmoud al-Qatiwi; an advisor to the chief of staff, Mohamed al-Asawi Diab; and Mohamed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub, a photographer from the chief of staff’s media office.
The Libyan delegation had spent the day in Ankara holding high-level talks. Al-Haddad had met with Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler, Turkish Chief of General Staff Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, and other senior military commanders.
The visit came amid ongoing military cooperation between Turkey and Libya’s Tripoli-based government.
The crash occurred one day after Turkey’s parliament approved a decision to extend the mandate of Turkish military deployment in Libya by an additional two years.
Turkey, a member of the United States-led military alliance of NATO, has provided military and political support to Libya’s Tripoli government since 2020 and has maintained military and security cooperation with the Libyan authorities.
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