Libyan Army Chief Mohammed Ali Ahmad al-Haddad Killed in Turkey Jet Crash After Ankara Defence Talks

Libyan Army Chief Mohammed Ali Ahmad al-Haddad Killed in Turkey Jet Crash After Ankara Defence Talks

Turkish authorities have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from a private jet that crashed near Ankara, killing Libya’s army chief and seven others, as investigators work to determine the cause of the accident.

The aircraft, a Falcon 50, went down shortly after taking off from Turkey’s capital on Tuesday. On board were Lieutenant General Mohammed Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, Libya’s chief of general staff, four senior military aides and three crew members. All eight people were killed, according to the Associated Press.

The Libyan delegation had been returning to Tripoli after holding defence talks in Ankara aimed at deepening military cooperation between the two countries.

Officials said the jet had requested an emergency landing minutes after departure after reporting an electrical failure. Communication was then lost. Wreckage was later located in the Haymana district, around 70 kilometres south of Ankara.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, speaking at the crash site on Wednesday, confirmed that both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder—often referred to as the black box—had been recovered. He said analysis of the devices was already under way.

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Search and recovery operations intensified as daylight broke on Wednesday, after overnight rain and fog complicated efforts. Debris was scattered across roughly three square kilometres, search teams said, slowing the operation. Turkey’s disaster management agency, AFAD, established a mobile coordination centre and deployed specialised vehicles to navigate the muddy terrain.

Yerlikaya noted that 408 Turkish personnel were involved in the response, while four prosecutors had been appointed to oversee the investigation. The bodies remained at the site as forensic teams worked to recover and identify the remains. A 22-member Libyan delegation arrived in Ankara as part of the response.

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Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah confirmed the deaths on Tuesday, calling the crash a “tragic accident” and a “great loss” for the country. The Libyan government announced three days of national mourning, with flags ordered to fly at half-mast at state institutions.

During his visit, Haddad had met Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler and other senior officials. The talks came a day after Turkey’s parliament approved a two-year extension of the mandate for Turkish troops deployed in Libya under a 2019 security and military cooperation agreement with the Tripoli-based government.

Haddad had served as Libya’s chief of general staff since August 2020, following his appointment by then prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj.

Libya remains politically divided between the UN-recognised government in Tripoli and a rival administration in the east led by commander Khalifa Haftar. The country has struggled with instability since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

Turkey maintains close military and economic ties with the Tripoli government and holds frequent high-level exchanges. At the same time, Ankara has recently engaged with eastern authorities, including a meeting in August between Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin and Haftar in Benghazi.

Investigators are now expected to focus on the jet’s final minutes as data from the recovered recorders is examined.