Recriminations in Libya after helicopter downing kills at least 12

A helicopter carrying 23 people was downed in Libya on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people including top military commanders from forces allied to the Tripoli-based government.

The aircraft was hit by gunfire shortly before noon and went down near the al-Maya area just west of Tripoli, said Colonel Mustafa Sharkasi, a spokesman for air forces allied to Libya's Tripoli-based government.

The helicopter was carrying cash for a local bank and was returning to the capital Tripoli, currently controlled by the Libya Dawn militia allied to the government based there, when it was shot down.

Sharkasi confirmed to Libyan news site al-Wasat that 12 people were dead, including Colonel Hussein Abu Diyya, and said he feared that all of the passengers had been killed.

Libya’s news agency LANA, which supports the internationally recognised government, reported that all 23 people on board had been killed.

Sharkasi accused armed groups allied to the internationally recognised government, currently based in far-eastern Libya, of shooting down the helicopter, and then of shooting on survivors after the aircraft came down in farmland.

Sharkasi singled out a group called Army of Tribes, which last week said up to 4,000 of its fighters were fighting alongside forces allied to the internationally recognised government, for what he called the “criminal” act.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the group said “the helicopter that crashed today was carrying a group of criminals and leaders of sedition”.

“This is the justice of God,” the group wrote.

A spokesperson for the official armed forces allied to the internationally recognised government initially denied any involvement in the downing, saying his forces had the “necessary courage” to claim responsibility for any attack they launched.

However, Mohammed al-Hijazi, chief spokesperson for the eastern government’s armed campaign against forces allied to the Tripoli government, later said his forces were behind the attack, according to Libyan news site Libya 24.

In the wake of the attack, Sharkasi pledged that the Tripoli-based government would “respond at the appropriate time and place”.

Tuesday’s attack raised fears that year-long efforts to establish a unity government could be further hampered by an uptick in violence.

UN envoy to Libya Bernardino Leon insisted last week that a political process would continue in the country, after both sides in the conflict rejected a proposed deal to form a consensus government.

“The political solution is the only real alternative,” Leon told reporters last Wednesday, adding that further meetings would be held in the coming weeks.

Libya descended into chaos after the October 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with two governments vying for power and armed groups battling for control of its vast energy resources.

A militia alliance overran Tripoli in August 2014, establishing a rival government and a parliament that forced the internationally recognised administration to flee to eastern Libya.