LA VALLETTE - LIBYA has demanded that Malta return two Libyan fighter jets that landed there after their pilots refused to bomb protesters and defected, a Maltese foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.
But Malta has not yet replied, he said and declined to specify how the request was made.
The two aircrafts are under armed guard at the airport in Luqa, he said, adding that the government is considering requests for political asylum by the two pilots, both senior colonels of the Libyan airforce.
The pair, who flew French-made Mirage jets said they defected after receiving orders to bomb protesters in the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, Libya's second biggest city and the locus of revolts since Feb 15.
Earlier this week a fighter pilot disobeyed orders to bomb Benghazi and ditched his plane after he and his co-pilot ejected, a report said. -- AFP
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