The Libyan army chief has been killed in an air crash in Turkey, Libya's prime minister has said.
Gen Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad was on board a Falcon 50 aircraft flying out of the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Tuesday evening. He was killed along with four other military officials and three crew members.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stated that contact with the business jet was lost at 20:52 local time (17:52 GMT) — about 42 minutes after it took off from Ankara's airport.
The Tripoli-bound jet had issued an emergency landing request before contact was lost. The aircraft's wreckage was later discovered south-west of Ankara, with the voice recorder and black box recovered.
The emergency services are still trying to retrieve the bodies.
An investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of the crash.
In a post on X, Yerlikaya wrote that police had spotted debris near the village of Kesikkavak, in the Haymana district.
In Libya, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, the prime minister of the internationally-recognised Government of National Unity (GNU), expressed his condolences over the deaths of Gen Haddad and other senior officials on board the jet.
The prime minister described it as a great loss for the nation, emphasizing that Libya has lost men who served their country with sincerity and dedication.
Gen Haddad and his team had been in Turkey for talks ostensibly aimed at strengthening military and security cooperation between the two countries.
Turkey has increased its role in Libya after intervening in 2019 to prevent an eastern-led army from ousting the internationally-recognized government in Tripoli, forging close political, military, and economic ties in the process.
The north African nation has been plagued by chaos since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with various armed groups vying for power.
