Libyan army chief killed in plane crash in Turkey

Libyan army chief Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad has been killed in a plane crash near the Turkish capital Ankara. Four senior Libyan officials were also killed. Qatar-based Al Jazeera reported that the private plane carrying the army chief crashed shortly after taking off from Ankara’s Esenboga Airport for Tripoli on Tuesday night (December 23).
Others killed in the crash were Ground Forces Chief of Staff Al-Fituri Gharibil, Director of the Military Manufacturing Authority Mahmoud al-Qatawi, al-Haddad’s adviser Muhammad al-Asawi Diab and military photographer Muhammad Omar Ahmed Mahjoub.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Debayba described it as a “tragic accident”. “This tragic accident is a great loss for the nation, the military establishment and the people. We have lost people who served their country with sincerity, responsibility and patriotism,” he said in a statement.
Burhanettin Duran, head of Turkey’s Presidential Communications Directorate, said the Dassault Falcon-50 jet requested an emergency landing due to an electrical fault. The plane disappeared from radar as it prepared to return to Ankara.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the plane lost contact with controllers at 8:52 pm after taking off at 8:10 pm local time. The wreckage was later found about two kilometres south of the village of Kesikvak in Ankara’s Haymana district, about 74 kilometres from the capital.
However, Turkish officials told Al Jazeera that an initial investigation found no signs of sabotage in the plane crash. According to them, the primary cause of the crash was a technical malfunction. Ankara’s chief prosecutor’s office has launched a formal investigation into the incident. Meanwhile, the Libyan government has also decided to send a delegation to Ankara to assist in the investigation. The accident occurred at a time when the Turkish parliament decided a day earlier to extend its military deployment in Libya for another two years. Al Jazeera reported that al-Haddad and his companions had come to Ankara to meet their Turkish counterparts and other military commanders. The private plane they used to travel to Turkey was a chartered plane by the Libyan government. Meanwhile, al-Haddad’s sudden death has cast a shadow of mourning across Libya. The government has declared three days of state mourning; the national flag is flown at half-mast on all government buildings and all official events have been suspended.