Libyan warplane lands on road in southern Tunisia

The state news agency TAP said the plane had made an emergency landing

A fighter loyal to the Libyan internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) fires a heavy machine gun as a press photographer take pictures of the scene during clashes against forces Show more

A Libyan warplane made an emergency landing on a road in the southern Tunisian town of Beni Khadash on Monday and its pilot has been detained, according to Tunisia's state news agency TAP.

The Tunisian Ministry of Defence said the pilot informed the authorities that he was forced to make the landing due to damage to his plane.

Tunisia's air force prepared to intercept the L-39 warplane but it landed before it could be reached, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

Forces allied to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) denied the warplane was one of theirs.

Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), which is allied to a rival administration in eastern Libya and which mounted an offensive on Tripoli in early April, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Witnesses said the plane had landed on a road and been surrounded by civilian vehicles stopping to watch.