Dozens of flights in Europe were targeted this week by false bomb threats, called hoaxes, which are made-up warnings. Nearly 30 were targeted on Thursday alone.
Some planes had to change course. A flight from Dublin to Rome was forced by French jets to land at a military base at Evreux, about 100 kilometres west of Paris. Hungary and Bulgaria also sent up fighter jets to escort planes. No explosives have been found in any incident so far.
Nobody has said for sure who sent the threats. Ireland’s government said it was likely a “co-ordinated campaign of disruption”. Some emails were signed with the name “Male State”, which matches a Russian group, but the news agency AFP has not confirmed any link, and the group’s founder denied involvement.