Plane shot down over rebel-held city in Libya

[Tx4obama]

Source: Associated Press

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) -- Libyan rebels shot down a warplane that was bombing their eastern stronghold Saturday as the opposition accused Moammar Gadhafi's government of defying calls for an immediate cease-fire.

An Associated Press reporter saw the plane go down in flames outside Benghazi early Saturday, sending up a black cloud of smoke after the city came under attack. The sound of artillery and crackling gunfire was heard in the distance.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_LIBYA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-03-19-03-54-54

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More updates regarding Libya / Benghazi

From the Al Jazeera Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/AJELive

Situation in #Libya changing really fast - stay tuned to our Libya Live Blog for latest updates: http://aje.me/hMrW4L

# AJELive

#AlJazeera reporters in #Benghazi say their vehicle has been hit by a mortar round - the vehicle was not occupied at the time 6 minutes ago via Seesmic Desktop


# AJELive

#AlJazeera reporter says that there are now artillery attacks on Gamal Abdel Nasser street in central #Benghazi 7 minutes ago via Seesmic Desktop

AJELive

#AlJazeera's Tony Birtely says that a plane has been shot down in #Benghazi - speaking live on http://aje.me/ajelive 27 minutes ago via Seesmic Desktop

AJELive

Reports from #AlJazeera reporter in #Benghazi that pro-#Gaddafi forces entered the suburbs of #Benghazi in #Libya 42 minutes ago via Seesmic Desktop

Edited to add:
Live reporting now on Al Jazeera English live stream http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

[Tx4obama]

1. Another update below

AJELive

Artillery shells being shot into Benghazi from about 20km away, Al Jazeera's Tony Birtely reports. 3 minutes ago via Seesmic Desktop

AJELive

#AlJazeera's James Bays says that fighter jet shot down in #Benghazi - landed few km's away from them. Still gunfire being heard in distance 3 minutes ago via Seesmic Desktop

http://twitter.com/AJELive

[Tx4obama]

2. AJ English just showed photos of the plane going down in flames.

The nose was pointed straight down.

[alphafemale]

3. woot

Wait. We're the good guys right?

[Tx4obama]

4. Photo links below of plane on fire and going down

Plane in flames http://www.daylife.com/photo/09Jw7bwbeJ52g?q=libya
A parachute (L) is ejected from a Libyan jet bomber as it crashes after being hit over Benghazi on March 19, 2011 as Libya's rebel stronghold came under attack, with at least two air strikes and sustained shelling of the city's south sending thick smoke into the sky.

More photos: http://www.daylife.com/search?q=libya


Note: I'm off to bed.

[Turborama]

8. Here's the one where it hit the ground

AJE have just been showing video of it.

[Tx4obama]

5. Here's a link to the amazing photo AJE was showing

http://twitpic.com/4aycsd

[Turborama]

6. Wow, thanks. I've uploaded it to my Imageshack account so it can be added here...

ETA sleep well.

:hi:

[Turborama]

9. Screenshot of AJE's broadcast...

[winstars]

7. Did anyone see Rebels shoot it...

down or is the air-cap already up??? I see two picture's of it in flames on the way down, who hit it???

[Turborama]

11. AJE's Tony Birtely was live on the phone @ the time and just before he was saying "fire is going up"

"Lots of fire..." and then he started talking about the plane going down.

There'll probably be a video clip of it online later.

[JanDutchy]

13. Live video , showed the pilot did it

video http://nos.nl/l/tcm:5-922475/

[joshcryer]

15. Definitely looked like a mechanical failure.

Engine seized.

[dipsydoodle]

22. Did what ?

Is the assumption that he ejected and just let it crash ?

[joshcryer]

10. Looks like it was an anti-Gaddafi plane.

RIP.

[David__77]

12. It's hard to know which side this plane was on.

There is a "rebel air force," no? I hope no civilians were killed in the crash.

[joshcryer]

14. Revolutionaries are claiming it was theirs. Wouldn't be surprised if mechanical failure...

...or worse, friendly fire.

[pinboy3niner]

16. AJE reporting "it seems to be a rebel plane"

[joshcryer]

17. Tony Birtley said it was apparently shot down by Gaddafi forces

:(

[pinboy3niner]

18. The Guardian on plane shot down: "The rebels now concede it was their only plane"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/19/libya-live-blog-ceasefire-nofly

[dipsydoodle]

19. So did they shoot their own plane down ?

:shrug:

Sounds a bit of a fuck up if they did.

The way they fire their AK47s in the air to celebrate has more than likely killed a few of their comrades along the way in any case.

[pinboy3niner]

20. It's not clear at this point which side shot it down

Some reports say "it appears" that rebels shot it down, others say it was regime forces. Nobody's certain.

[dipsydoodle]

21. Sounds more like an own goal to me.

.

[pinboy3niner]

23. Thast is PRECISELY what one reporter said

"Own goal." Or what we call 'friendly fire.'

[dipsydoodle]

24. We're more into football/soccer here in UK ,

where that often occurs , so we use that expression for anything similar.

Top ten own goals : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3qEFvKkeRQ

:hi:

[14thColony]

25. Easy to imagine

It's a Mirage F-1 that looks identical to all the enemy Mirage F-1s, and is flying in the same airspace as them. In the afternoon of 7 Dec 1941 US air defense forces at Pearl Harbor shot down half a dozen US Navy patrol bombers coming in to land at Ford Island, in broad daylight, with their landing gear down. People on the ground who've been subject to sustained air attacks tend to take a "when in doubt open fire" attitude when aircraft are spotted.

The smarter use of the one plane would have been to use it to intercept enemy aircraft out away from the city, reducing the concern of friendly fire and allowing the pilot to focus on maybe damaging or driving off a few enemy planes here or there. But let's face it: one plane was never going to do much anyway.

At least it appears his parachute was deploying properly in the last shots, so hopefully he made it down ok.

[Turborama]

26. Sky News are saying the dot on the left of the plane is the pilot ejecting...

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

27. Probably not gonna like what happens when he lands.

[Turborama]

28. Al Jazeera English just reported that apparently the pilot didn't make it out alive n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

30. That was my original point.

toss the link when you go it

[timo]

29. they shot their own plane down??

just IMAGINE the collateral damage that lays a ahead when egypt starts pumping guns into these inept hands financed by US of course...jeeeezz what fuckup this is going to be!!