Turkey denies attacked ship was carrying weapons to Libya's Derna

Turkey denied on Friday that a cargo ship, which was bombed off Libya on Sunday, was carrying weapons and approaching the eastern Libya city of Derna.

The vessel was en-route to Tobruk and Beirut ports respectively with a declared cargo, Spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry Tanju Bilgic said at a press conference.

The spokesman said there are documents taken in Spain where the ship left, which prove that final ports were Tobruk and Beirut.

Also, an examination of the ship after it arrived in Fethiye town of Mugla province in southern Turkey proved that it was carrying sheetrock cargo as declared, he said.

Statements from the Tobruk government try to justify the attack, Bilgic said. "Attack on civilian ships from air and ground under cover of fight against terrorism is unacceptable."

The third officer of a Turkish cargo ship was killed and several crew members injured in an attack on their vessel off the Libyan coast on Sunday.

The ship, named "Tuna 1," was shelled from land while it was 13 miles away from the Libyan coast near the port of Tobruk, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

However, a Libyan military spokesman said that the Turkish vessel was bombed "after it was warned not to approach the Libyan city of Derna."

In the past, Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni accused Ankara of interfering in Libya's domestic affairs, including providing support for the renegade government. Endit