ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Tuesday that Ankara had lost contact with a private jet carrying Libyan Chief of Staff Mohammed al-Haddad after it took off from the Turkish capital, with Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh announcing his death shortly after via a Facebook post.

"With profound sorrow and grief, we received the news of the passing of the Chief of the General Staff of the Libyan Army, Lieutenant General Mohammed Al-Haddad, and his companions," Dbeibeh wrote, extending his condolences to their families and peers. 

In addition to Haddad, the aircraft also carried Fitouri Ghraibil, Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces; Mahmoud Al-Qatawi, Director of the Military Manufacturing Authority; Mohammed Al-Asawi Diab, Advisor to the Chief of the General Staff; and Mohammed Mahjoub, photographer at Haddad's media office, according to the Libyan premier. 

“Contact with the Falcon 50 type business jet, tail number 9H-DFJ, which took off from Ankara Esenboga Airport at 20:10 this evening en route to Tripoli, has been lost as of 20:52,” Yerlikaya wrote in an X post earlier on Tuesday night.

“The aircraft, which includes Chief of the General Staff of Libya, General Muhammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, among its passengers, has five passengers on board,” he added.

Haddad was in Turkey on an official visit, where he met with Turkey’s Defense Minister Yasar Guler earlier in the day, before leaving Ankara via its international airport.

“An emergency landing notification was received from the aircraft near Haymana; however, contact with the aircraft could not be re-established afterward,” the Turkish interior minister further wrote, adding that “The public will be informed of developments.”

According to a statement by Turkey's National Defense Ministry, Haddad had been invited by his Turkish counterpart Selcuk Bayraktaroglu.


UPDATE: The headline of this article was previously "Turkey loses contact with plane carrying Libyan army chief of staff," but was updated at 11:22 pm in light of the news of his passing.