A MiG-29 fighter jet, allegedly owned by Russian state-sponsored private military contractors, has been shot down in Libya.
A MiG-29 (NATO reporting name – “
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect additional comments from U.S. Africa Command.
At least two MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter jets, piloted by Wagner paramilitary contractors, crashed in Libya, according to the U.S. Africa Command.
The 14 MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter jets and Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer bombers delivered by Russia to Libya in May.
In May, these warplanes flew from Russia and made a stopover in Iran’s eastern Hamedan airbase. They then flew on to Russia’s Khmeimim airbase in western Syria, where social media photographs clearly showed that they were unmarked. Russian Air Force jets then escorted them to Al-Jufra airbase in Libya, which is controlled by the Libyan National Army (LNA) group led by General Khalifa Haftar.
CORRECTION: Story corrected on September 12 to note that this footage does not apply to this incident and was filmed two years ago.
