Benghazi: Libya’s air force chief of staff says a fighter jet was shot down while carrying out air strikes against militants, the third jet to be downed in nearly 40 days.
Brig. Gen. Saqr Al Jaroushi told The Associated Press that a Libyan MIG32 came under fire by militants’ anti-aircraft guns in the eastern city of Benghazi on Friday. He says the pilot ejected and landed safely. The pilot has been rescued before in a similar incident on January 4.
Al Jaroushi said army is investigating whether “terrorists have acquired new weapons capable of shooting down our planes.”
The air force answers to the internationally-recognised government in eastern Libya, where forces have been fighting Islamist militants since 2014. In western Libya a rival parliament, backed by Islamist-allied militias, is in control.
