Haftar’s forces admit they shot down US drone over Tripoli by mistake, apologize for it

BY Libyan Express Nov 25, 2019 - 16:08

Khalifa Haftar’s forces, trying to seize Tripoli from the UN-backed Government of National Accord, shot down a U.S. military drone over the capital by mistake last week, officials from Haftar’s forces said on Monday, The Associated Press reported.

The U.S. military said it lost the drone Thursday while it was assessing the security situation and monitoring extremist activity. U.S. Africa Command declined to elaborate Monday, saying only that the incident was under investigation.

A senior official in Haftar’s general command said they mistook the U.S. drone for a “Turkish-made drone used by the Tripoli-allied Libyan Army forces, after they had also downed an Italian drone southeast of Tripoli in recent days, according to AP.

The official said Haftar’s forces apologized for shooting down the American drone and has “agreed with the Americans to coordinate their operations over Tripoli and its surrounding areas to avoid similar incidents in the future.”

According to AP, Haftar’s fighters did not share photographs of the U.S. drone online as they usually do when they shoot down drones, including the Italian one last week.

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