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Turkish military plane fired on over Libya

ANKARA — A Turkish military cargo plane dropping humanitarian aid over the Libyan town of Bani Walid came under fire from the ground, the Turkish news agency Anatolia reported on Monday.

The incident happened on Saturday when one of two Turkish C-130 transport planes parachuting 22 tonnes of aid to residents, was fired on, the agency said, citing a journalist on the plane.

The pilots took evasive action and narrowly missed being hit, returning the plane safely to base in Turkey after a brief stopover in Benghazi to check for possible damage.

Turkish authorities provided Libya’s interim leadership with the geographic coordinates of the area where the attack took place for them to try and establish whether the fire came from troops fighting for or against ousted leader Moamer Kadhafi, according to Turkish daily Hurriyet.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Libya on an “Arab Spring” tour last week, meeting the leaders of the National Transitional Council (NTC).

Kadhafi diehards in his hometown Sirte and in Bani Walid stood their ground over the weekend as NTC combatants tried to break their morale by preparing for a new multi-pronged advance.