Ankara/Tripoli, December 25: Libya’s army chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad, was killed on Tuesday when a plane carrying him crashed after departing Turkey’s capital Ankara, Libya’s internationally recognised government said.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said the crash occurred as Al-Haddad and four others were returning to Tripoli from an official visit to Turkey. Those on board included Libya’s ground forces commander, the director of the military manufacturing authority, an adviser to the chief of staff and a photographer.
“This followed a tragic and painful incident while they were returning from an official trip from the Turkish city of Ankara,” Dbeibah said in a statement, calling the deaths a major loss for the nation and the military.
Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the Dassault Falcon 50 jet took off from Ankara’s Esenboga Airport at 1710 GMT bound for Tripoli, but radio contact was lost at 1752 GMT. The wreckage was later found near the village of Kesikkavak in Ankara’s Haymana district.
Yerlikaya said the aircraft had requested an emergency landing while flying over Haymana, but no further contact was established. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said an investigation into the incident was under way.
Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Unity said Prime Minister Dbeibah had instructed the defence minister to send an official delegation to Ankara to follow developments in the investigation.
Walid Ellafi, Libya’s state minister for political affairs and communication, said the jet was a leased Maltese aircraft and that authorities did not yet have sufficient information on its ownership or technical history.
Libya’s U.N.-recognised government announced three days of official mourning across the country.
Turkey’s defence ministry said earlier that Al-Haddad had met Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler and senior military officials during his visit.
The crash occurred a day after Turkey’s parliament voted to extend the mandate for the deployment of Turkish troops in Libya by two years. NATO member Turkey has been a key military and political supporter of Libya’s Tripoli-based government since 2020, when it sent troops to provide training and support.
Ankara has also signed maritime and energy exploration agreements with Tripoli, moves opposed by Egypt and Greece. More recently, Turkey has expanded contacts with Libya’s eastern faction under what it describes as a “One Libya” policy.
