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Troops loyal to Libya’s internationally recognised government have shot down a fighter jet belonging to the eastern forces under the command of General Khalifa Haftar, on the same day the renegade military leader held talks with Egypt’s president in Cairo.

Military sources within the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) said the jet operated by the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) was downed on Sunday in Tripoli’s southern outskirts, as fighting for control of the capital rages.

Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from Tripoli, said LNA sources confirmed one of the LNA’s fighter jets was shot down but added the pilot had “escaped” after using a parachute to eject from the unit.

Pro-government forces said they were “searching for the pilot”, he added.

No other details were immediately available.

Mass displacement, hundreds were wounded.

The downing of the LNA jet came after Haftar’s forces stepped up air raids against pro-GNA troops in recent days as part of a campaign launched on April 4 to wrestle control of the capital.

“Haftar’s warplanes have been targeting several locations in and around Tripoli and also warplanes with the GNA have been targeting Haftar’s locations south of Tripoli,” Abdelwahed said.

Libya, which has been mired in chaos since the Nato-backed toppling of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, has been split into rival eastern and western administrations since 2014.

In March 2016, GNA chief Fayez al-Sarraj arrived in Tripoli to set up a new government, but the Haftar-allied administration in the eastern city of Tobruk refused to recognise its authority.

However, Haftar’s push on the capital threatens to further destabilise the oil-rich country and reignite a full-blown civil war.

At least 121 people have been killed and 561 wounded since the LNA started its offensive on April 4, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Both sides accuse each other of targeting civilians.

About 15 700 people have been forced to flee their homes because of the conflict, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), with a “significant number” of others still stuck in conflict zones.

– AFP