TRIPOLI, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- Libya's Government of National Unity declared three days of national mourning on Tuesday after army chief of staff Mohammed al-Haddad and four senior military officials died in a plane crash near the Turkish capital Ankara.
The government extended its condolences in a statement to the families of the victims and to their colleagues in the Libyan Armed Forces.
The statement said all state institutions will fly flags at half-mast, and official ceremonies and celebrations would be suspended during the three-day mourning period.
A private jet carrying the victims crashed on Tuesday after takeoff from Ankara.
The wreckage of the Falcon 50 jet was located by Turkish gendarmerie units near Kesikkavak village in Ankara's Haymana district, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah confirmed the deaths, saying al-Haddad and several senior military officials were killed after the aircraft crashed while returning from an official visit to Türkiye. He said the government would investigate "the circumstances of the accident."
Also on Tuesday, Libya's eastern-based Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Haftar, expressed its deep condolences over the tragic plane crash.
Libya has remained divided since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The country is split between the UN-recognized Government of National Unity in Tripoli and the eastern administration backed by the Libyan National Army under commander Haftar. ■