Libya’s prime minister said the country's chief of staff was killed in an airplane accident in Türkiye, after he visited Ankara.
"It is with deep sadness and great sorrow that we learnt of the death of the Libyan army's chief of general staff", Mohammed al-Haddad, Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said on his Facebook page.
He called it a "great loss" for Libya. Officials in Libya said contact with the plane was lost about half hour into the flight because of a technical malfunction.
The private jet carrying al-Haddad and four other people crashed after takeoff from the Turkish capital. The jet lost all radio contact after issuing an emergency landing alert near the Haymana district south of Ankara, Turkish officials said.
Türkiye did not immediately confirm the deaths, only that wreckage of the Falcon 50 type business jet has been found.
Türkiye’s Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran said authorities have located the wreckage of the private jet that crashed shortly after taking off from Ankara Esenboğa Airport on Dec. 23.
In a statement, Duran said the aircraft, carrying Gen. al-Haddad, four members of his delegation, and three crew members, departed Esenboğa at 8:17 p.m. and issued an emergency alert at 8:33 p.m. due to an electrical failure. The jet requested an emergency landing and was redirected back to Esenboğa as emergency preparations began on the ground.
The plane began descending for an emergency landing but disappeared from radar at 8:36 p.m., after which all communication was lost.
Search teams from the Interior Ministry were dispatched immediately, and the wreckage was located during overnight operations, Duran said, adding that all relevant state institutions are continuing their work with “utmost diligence.”
He urged the public and media outlets to rely solely on official statements during the investigation and to avoid unverified social media posts, speculation, and conspiracy theories, noting that preventing the spread of disinformation is critically important.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the jet had transmitted an emergency landing notification in the Haymana area before all contact ceased.
Yerlikaya also confirmed that an investigation is underway and that search efforts were being coordinated after reports of a loud noise heard near Haymana around the time of the incident.
Al-Haddad was the top military commander in western Libya. He played a crucial role in the U.N.-brokered ongoing efforts to unify Libya's military, which has split much like Libya's institutions.
Al-Haddad held high-level talks in Ankara on Tuesday as the official guest of Türkiye’s Chief of General Staff Gen. Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu.
Gen. Bayraktaroğlu welcomed his Libyan counterpart with a military ceremony before the two commanders proceeded to bilateral discussions. The meeting focused on defense cooperation and regional security, according to officials familiar with the talks.
Delegation-level meetings were also held, with Turkish Land Forces Commander Gen. Metin Tokel and Libyan Land Forces Commander Lt. Gen. Futuri Gribel joining the discussions.
The Turkish Parliament approved a motion on Monday, extending the troop mandate in Libya for another two years.
Officials said search and rescue teams were dispatched to the region, and further details will be shared as the investigation progresses.
