Remains of Libyan army chief killed in crash to return home

The remains of the Libyan chief of staff and his advisers, who were killed in a plane crash near Ankara, will be repatriated on Saturday, the Turkish defence ministry said.

The Tripoli government's General Mohamed Al-Haddad, four of his advisers and three crew died when the Falcon 50 jet they were travelling on crashed less than forty minutes after take-off on Tuesday.

Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler presided over a short ceremony at the Murted air base near Ankara, the ministry said on X.

The plane's black box was found on farmland near the crash site. Turkish authorities have said the plane had an electrical failure but added that the investigation into the cause of the crash will be conducted by a "neutral country", possibly Germany.

A French diplomatic source said that two French nationals were among the crew. The plane was chartered from a Malta-based company, Harmony Jets, which maintains its fleet in Lyon, France.

The two rival camps in Libya, the Government of National Unity based in Tripoli and the government in Benghazi in the east, controlled by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, have declared three days of national mourning in a rare show of unity.

Since the fall of Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, Libya has struggled to regain stability, with two rival executives vying for power.

Turkey is a strong supporter of the Tripoli-based government but has sought recently to improve ties with Haftar.