Libyan army chief killed in plane crash over Turkey

TRIPOLI, Dec. 24 (YPA) -Libya’s Tripoli-based National Unity Government Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh announced the death of army chief of staff Mohammed al-Haddad and his companions in a plane crash while returning from an official visit to Ankara.

Earlier in the evening, Türkiye’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya  announced that the wreckage of the plane carrying Libya’s Chief of Staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, was found near the Haymana district of Ankara.

The Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency reported that the wreckage was located about 2 kilometers from the village of Kısık Kavak in Haymana, south of Ankara.

Earlier, Yerlikaya had reported losing contact with al-Haddad’s plane shortly after it took off from Ankara Airport en route to Tripoli.

He said the aircraft, carrying five passengers including Libya’s army chief of staff Mohammed Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, had transmitted an emergency landing notification near Haymana but that no further communication could be established afterward. Ankara’s airspace was closed following the incident.

Libya Al-Ahrar TV quoted Libya’s Minister of State for Communication and Political Affairs, Walid Al-Lafi, saying that the Libyan authorities were informed by the Turkish side about the loss of contact with the plane shortly after takeoff due to a technical fault.

In addition to Al-Haddad, the victims included Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces Major General Al-Faituri Ghraibil, Director of the Military Manufacturing Agency Brigadier Mahmoud Al-Qatiwi, Chief of Staff Advisor Mohamed Al-Asawi Diab, and media office photographer Mohamed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub.

@E.Y.M