The Libyan government this month confirmed the death of Mohamed Ali Ahmed al Hadad, head of the African country’s armed forces, according to an official statement shared on Facebook. Al Hadad had traveled to Ankara to meet Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler. A few hours after the meeting, Turkish authorities realized that communication had been lost with the plane in which the senior official was returning to Libyan territory.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the plane took off at 8:10 p.m. local time (6:10 p.m. Spanish time) and that communication was lost at 8:52 p.m., just minutes after the plane’s crew requested an emergency landing near the town of Haymana, southwest of Ankara. “However, we were unable to reestablish contact,” Yerlikaya said in a post in his account
Abdulhamid Ddeibah, prime minister of the United Nations-recognized Libyan government, reported that Al Hadad was traveling with four others: the head of the Land Powers State mayor, Al Fituri Ghraibil; the director of the Military Manufacturing Authority, Mahmud al Qatawi; the advisor to the head of the army, Mohamed al Asawi Diab; and press workshop photographer Mohamed Omar Ahmed Mahyub.
“It is with great sadness and regret that we learned the news of the death of the Head of State, Mayor General of the Libyan Army, Lieutenant General Mohamed al Hadad, and his comrades,” Ddeibah said in the statement. “This great tragedy is a great loss for the nation, the military establishment and the entire people, because we have lost men who served their country with sincerity and dedication and who were an example of discipline, responsibility and national commitment,” he added.
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