Multiple flights in Europe were targeted by bomb threats on Thursday, forcing emergency landings, searches and military escorts to airports in France, Italy and Bulgaria.

A British official called them “malicious hoaxes" that followed another rash of hoax threats earlier this week.

More than a dozen flights from cities including Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan and Warsaw were confirmed to have been targeted with bomb threats, most diverted to other airports for emergency landings while others landed safely at their destinations.

So far inspections have not turned up hazardous or suspicious materials.

Britain’s Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told British broadcasters that flights across Europe have been hit by “malicious hoax threats”.

The European Union’s Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said that “any threats against civilians are unacceptable,” and that the EU’s executive branch was in contact with affected member countries.

“It is too early to draw conclusions on whether the reported incidents are linked,” Tzitzikostas told reporters in Dublin. “National investigations remain ongoing.”

He said that an EU level information-sharing mechanism on aviation security had been activated, and that “we don’t have information yet whether this is a cyberattack”.

Such threats are not new, but the latest incidents come at a time of increased geopolitical tensions and other disruptions, including attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems, drone incursions in Europe and mysterious triggers to alert apps. Authorities have warned that hybrid threats abound. (AP)


Edited by Edmond Fong