A new wave of bomb threats disrupted air traffic across Europe on Friday, but affected planes landed safely and searches revealed no explosive devices.
The latest alerts affected at least 18 flights to or from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom.
Danish police investigated a threat against Copenhagen airport, but airport management said it was operating normally.
The warnings followed separate threats on Tuesday and Thursday that forced at least 35 flights to be diverted or searched, raising questions about a seemingly coordinated effort to sow chaos for travelers.
A number of European media outlets – including news agencies in Bulgaria, Ireland and the United Kingdom – reported that a group claiming responsibility for this week’s threats had sent an email to several media outlets warning of further attacks on transport across Europe.
“This is only the beginning,” he was quoted as saying.
Photograph: Tom Little/Reuters
The latest threats affected at least nine flights to and from Prague, four flights over France, two flights to Sofia and one flight from Lisbon to Rome. Hungary has deployed fighter jets three times to escort civilian flights through its airspace, Defense Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said on Facebook.
The affected flights had repercussions, but represented only a tiny percentage – just 0.0674% – of the 26,709 flights scheduled for Friday in Europe, according to air traffic control agency Eurocontrol.
Another wave of threats against Irish media on Friday disrupted broadcasts and prompted the evacuation of staff and police searches of offices and newsrooms.
The taoiseach, Micheál Martin, told RTÉ Radio 1 after scheduled broadcasts resumed that such threats must be taken seriously and were an attempt to sow fear and anxiety.
“This shows how relatively easy it can be to cause disruption and harm the normal functioning of society,” Martin said, adding that European security agencies would seek to identify those responsible and hold them to account.
British television channel Sky said on Friday that it had also received a threat to its security and had informed the relevant authorities.
Earlier this week, cyberattacks targeted supermarket refrigeration systems in at least seven European countries.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said it was unclear whether the hoaxes and recent cyberattacks were “all linked.”
She added: “But they are certainly all telling us the same thing: today it is civilian infrastructure that is under attack. »
The NATO alliance continued to monitor the situation and worked closely with its allies, according to a senior NATO military official.
Investigators said there was no evidence that the hoaxes against the airlines and other targets were orchestrated by a terrorist group or hostile state actor, such as Russia or Iran, but that investigations were continuing.
Several European media outlets in Bulgaria, Ireland, the United Kingdom and elsewhere reported that a group claiming responsibility for this week’s threats warned in an email of further action against transportation across Europe.
“This is only the beginning,” he was quoted as saying. The Guardian has chosen not to reproduce the email in full, given its unsubstantiated claims.
Some of Thursday’s threats were signed “male state fighters,” a reference to a Russian far-right, ultranationalist and misogynist movement founded in 2016. In a message posted Friday on Telegram, the group’s founder, Vladislav Pozdniakov, denied any involvement and said the group had not existed since 2021.
Some officials suspect that these waves of disruption are linked to European support for Ukraine in its war against the Russian invasion.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said authorities needed more time to identify the culprits, but that there appeared to be a trend.
“It is not just a coincidence that so many incidents with exactly the same modus operandi are happening across Europe,” he told national broadcaster TVE.
“The most reasonable assumption is that we are facing an attempted hybrid aggression and a form of psychological warfare,” he said, adding that Europe must prepare for more such challenges.
Mark Rowley, the head of London’s Metropolitan Police, called for a measured response, saying past experience with the Irish Republican Army paramilitaries offered valuable lessons.
He recalled the phrase “10p terrorism,” when a bomb call made from a coin-operated phone booth could disrupt an entire city, forcing authorities to distinguish between real and fake threats.
Authorities will need to adapt to an evolving threat landscape involving actors around the world, some backed by hostile states, he said.
“We’re going to have to adapt to that same methodology to make sure we don’t overreact to every message we receive online,” he told BBC Radio 4.
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