ANKARA: Libya’s army chief died on Tuesday when a jet carrying him crashed shortly after takeoff from the Turkish capital Ankara en route to Tripoli, according to Turkiye’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.

The minister said on social media platform X that the jet had taken off at 1710 GMT and radio contact was lost at 1752 GMT.

He said the flight had made a request for an emergency landing while over the Haymana district of Ankara, but that no contact was established.

Four others were on the jet, he added, while flight tracking data showed other flights being diverted away from Ankara’s Esenboga Airport.

Turkiye’s defence ministry had announced the Libyan chief of staff’s visit earlier, saying he had met Defence Minister Yasar Guler and his Turkish counterpart Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, along with other military commanders.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2025