European airline bomb hoaxes: no hard evidence yet on who is behind them
Coordinated false bomb threats have disrupted flights across Europe, but as of Thursday evening no hard evidence linked them to Russia, Iran or proxy groups.
At a glance
- Coordinated false bomb threats have targeted European airlines and airports, leading to flight diversions and an Italian fighter-jet escort.
- By Thursday evening, no hard evidence had emerged linking the hoaxes to Russia, Iran or proxy groups controlled by them.
- The hoaxes follow cyberattacks, drone sightings and other incidents in Europe, including a Rome email claim.
A wave of false bomb threats has disrupted air travel across Europe in recent days, targeting airlines and airports one after another. In almost every case, the warnings were treated as credible enough to divert aircraft; Italy went further and scrambled fighter jets to escort a plane. London's Heathrow airport was a notable exception. All the threats proved false, but that does not mean the next ones will be.
The coordinated nature of the hoaxes, alongside other malicious incidents in Europe, has led some people to suspect Russia. By Thursday evening, no hard evidence had emerged connecting the airline threats to Russia, Iran or groups acting as their proxies, according to the BBC.
Wider pattern of incidents
The airline hoaxes come after a series of cyber-attacks and mysterious drone sightings over sensitive sites earlier this year. In the past few days, there have been incidents including the remote hacking of supermarket freezers and a blood bank, a suspicious incident on Poland's border with Russia, and an August drone attack on Leipzig Halle airport in Germany. Germany's interior minister publicly blamed Moscow for that airport attack.
Some have argued that such actions amount to hybrid, grey-zone or sub-threshold warfare: operations that can damage infrastructure or unsettle society while remaining anonymous and deniable, and that stop short of triggering Nato's Article 5 collective defence clause. Moscow is angry at Nato for backing Ukraine, which has frustrated the Kremlin's aim of absorbing Ukraine and ending its independence. Russian bloggers have argued that if Ukrainian drones are making Russian airports unsafe and Western sanctions keep Russian airlines out of European airspace, Western countries should expect similar disruption.
A claim in Rome
On Thursday morning, airport authorities in Rome received an email threat purporting to come from 'Fighters of the Male State'. That name probably refers to Muzhskoi Legion, or 'Male Legion', an ultra-right Russian group banned by a Moscow court in 2021. It kept tens of thousands of followers on Telegram and cheered Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine the following year. Even if the Rome email is genuine, it is unlikely to give police and airport authorities the leads they need to identify who is producing the hoaxes and why.
For national police forces, airport operators and transport ministries, the challenge is to follow hard evidence rather than assume the most likely culprit. So far, that evidence has not been made public.
Source: BBC World.
Questions and answers
- Who is suspected of being behind the European airline bomb hoaxes?
- No hard evidence had emerged by Thursday evening linking the hoaxes to Russia, Iran or proxy groups, though some observers have pointed to Russia based on circumstantial evidence.
- What was the email threat sent to Rome airport authorities?
- It purported to come from 'Fighters of the Male State', a name likely referring to Muzhskoi Legion, an ultra-right Russian group banned by a Moscow court in 2021.
- Were any of the bomb threats real?
- All the threats turned out to be false, but the BBC reported that does not mean the next threats will not be real.
