TRIPOLI, May 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) –The UN-recognised Libyan military conducted an airstrike this week on a cargo plane carrying weapons and ammunition to militias loyal to renegade general Khalifa Haftar.
The Antonov-type airlift cargo plane was targeted after landing at an airport in Tarhuna, southeast of Tripoli on May 5, according to a statement by the press center of the Libyan Army-led Volcano of Rage Operation.
Tarhuna is a major focal point for Haftar’s militias in their onslaught against Tripoli as well as for their supply lines from Al-Jufra air base.
The explosion of the ammunition on board the plane showed that the claim that it had been carrying medical equipment was incorrect, the statement said.
The UN-backed Libyan Army of the Government of National Accord (GNA) has recently made gains against Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) militias, which are supported by France, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt.
Meanwhile, the UN said mercenaries working for the Russian private military contractor Wagner PMC (Private Military Company) are operating in Libya.
The contractor has clandestinely deployed up to 1,200 people to help Libya’s renegade General Khalifa Haftar.
It quotes an experts’ report submitted to the UN Security Council’s Libya sanctions committee.
The fighters are offering technical support for the repair of military vehicles and also participating in combat operations, the report said.
Following the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya’s government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led political deal. Since April 2019, the government has been under attack by Haftar’s forces, based in eastern Libya, and more than 1,000 people have been killed in the violence. — NNN-AGENCIES
