TRIPOLI, July 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Troops loyal to Libyan military strongman Gen Khalifa Haftar said they shot down a plane belonging to forces loyal to the rival unity government.
The UN-backed Government of National Accord forces said they had lost contact with one of their planes that was on a combat mission south of the capital, and there was no word on the crew’s fate.
Local media however reported that the pilot was killed in the attack with images shared on social media claiming to show parts of the wreckage.
The two rival camps have both lost several planes in the past three months of fighting.
Haftar’s spokesman Ahmad al-Mesmari said an L39 Albatros was shot down near the town of Tarhuna, a rear base of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) located 80 kilometres southeast of Tripoli.
GNA forces, under attack around Tripoli by Haftar’s forces since early April, said they had lost contact with an air force L39 that was on a combat mission south of the capital.
The plane had reportedly been carrying out airstrikes in Tarhuna.
The two rival camps, locked in battle on the ground, have both lost several planes in the past three months of fighting.
A recent upsurge in violence began in April when the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), commanded by Gen Haftar, launched an offensive against the GNA, led by PM Fayez al-Sarraj.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said almost 1,000 people have been killed since Haftar launched a push three months ago to capture Tripoli.
The figure announced on Friday included at least 60 detained migrants who died in a devastating air attack on a detention centre in the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura on Tuesday night.
Air attacks and ground fighting have since left nearly 1,000 people dead and some 5,000 wounded, the WHO said, without specifying the breakdown between civilians and fighters.
The fighting has forced more than 100,000 people to flee their homes in a country mired by a bloody power struggle between militias since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
The GNA has accused Haftar’s forces of carrying out the attack on the migrant detention centre.
The LNA denied the accusation, saying it had targeted a nearby militia’s position but did not hit the hangar.
A Geneva-based spokesman for the International Organization for Migration said six children were among those killed.
Joel Millman said “350 migrants, including 20 women and four children”, were still detained at the centre, one of five air hangars hit in the raid. — NNN-AGENCIES
