BENGHAZI, Libya – The Libyan National Army (LNA) has confirmed that itsfighter jet crashed within the Government of National Accord’s (GNA)territory after completing its combat mission and that the reason behindthe crash was a technical malfunction, according to a statement by the LNAgeneral headquarters obtained by Sputnik.

“The LNA’s general headquarters lost touch with one of the MiG-23 jets onSaturday evening after it had completed its combat mission … Soon afterthe pilot was captured by terrorists in the city of Zawiyah”, the LNA saidin a statement.

It stressed that the reason behind the crash was a technical malfunction,which made the pilot catapult himself while still being beyond the enemylines. The statement also specified that the captured pilot was beingtreated poorly in violation of the Geneva convention.

[image: The MiG-23 flight line (with one added Su-22) at Mitiga airport,2009]According to the LNA, the command asked the elders of the Zawiyah tribe tointerfere after video and photo evidence of the pilot’s maltreatment hadsurfaced on the internet.

The GNA operations command tweeted on 7 December that a MiG-23 jet of theNational Libyan Armylinkhadbeen shot down near the Yarmouk military camp, south of Tripoli.

Libya is currently ruled by two competing governments. The country’s eastis controlled by the Interim Libyan Government of Eastern Libya, supportedby the Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Haftar, and its west isgoverned by the UN-backed Government of National Accord. Since April, thesides have been engaged in an open military confrontation.