Pro-LNA Libyan air force lost at least six to eight helicopters – Mi-8, Mi-14, Mi-24/Mi-35 and Mi-17 – between 2014 and 2017, most of them crashed due to technical malfunctions, but one pro-LNA Mi-35 combat attack helicopter was shot down at Ras Lanouf and another pro-LNA Mi-35 combat attack helicopter was abandoned by the pro-LNA forces at Ras Lanouf air force base during a pro-GNA militant surprise offensive in March 2017, the helicopter was subsequently destroyed on the ground by the pro-GNA militants in order to prevent its recapture by the pro-LNA forces. Before that, on 17 July 2016, a pro-LNA air force Mi-17 helicopter was shot down by Islamists with a Chinese-made FN-6 MANPADs near Magrun, 70 kilometers south of Benghazi, killing its entire crew and all personnel on board—three pro-LNA Libyan crew members and three French DGSE special forces intelligence officials.