A private jet carrying Libya's military chief and four other officers and staff crashed on Tuesday after takeoff from Turkey's capital, Ankara, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said the cause of the crash was a technical malfunction on the plane, the AP reports. The Libyan delegation was in Ankara for high-level defense talks aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries, Turkish officials said. It was not immediately clear how many crew members were on board the plane when it crashed. Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah confirmed the death of Gen. Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad and the others, saying in a statement on Facebook that the "tragic accident" took place as the delegation was returning home. The prime minister called it a "great loss" for Libya.
Al-Hadad was the top military commander in western Libya and played a crucial role in the ongoing, UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya's military, which has split, much like Libya's institutions. The four others who died in the crash were Gen. Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, the head of Libya's ground forces, Brig. Gen. Mahmoud Al-Qatawi, who led the military manufacturing authority, Mohammed Al-Asawi Diab, advisor to the chief of staff, and Mohammed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub, a military photographer with the chief of staff's office. Earlier on Tuesday evening, Turkey's air traffic controllers said they lost contact with the plane, which was en route back to Libya, about 40 minutes after takeoff from Ankara's Esenboga airport. The plane issued an emergency landing signal near Haymana, reportedly due to an electrical fault, before all communication ceased.
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