Authorities are yet to confirm who is behind the bomb hoaxes affecting air travel in Europe this week, but experts suggest there are indications to explain who might be behind the spate of threats.
European skies this week saw several days of travel chaos after bomb hoaxes caused fighter jets to be scrambled and commercial planes to be redirected across the continent.
Thursday alone saw some 20 flights affected, particularly targeting low-cost carriers and flights to or from Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Italy.
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Who is behind the bomb hoaxes hitting flights across Europe?
Officially anyway, it remains unclear who is behind the hoaxes. No national security agency or government from any of the affected countries have publicly stated who is responsible.
There are some clues, however, and experts suspect it may form part of wider ‘hybrid’ warfare techniques increasingly common in recent years.
No claim of responsibility was made for all the flights, but threats against flights sent to airports in Rome and Sofia, seen by AFP, contained misogynistic messages and claimed to be from “fighters of the Male State”.
A message sent to multiple email addresses for Sofia airport and viewed by AFP said “explosive devices” had been placed on three Ryanair flights headed for Bulgaria.
“You are all accomplices in a criminal conspiracy and for this we want to annihilate you,” read the message.
“We, fighters of the Male State, with our actions today will leave a mark in history. Your feminist regime will remember it forever. The explosion will occur in 60 minutes. Today your skies will turn red,” it said.
A British airport also told AFP it received a similar hoax threat, naming the group as Men’s State.
Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera published the same text — but with warnings directed at two flights headed for Rome — sent to ADR, the company that manages Rome’s airports. A company source confirmed the report to AFP.
A spokesperson for Birmingham Airport in central England told AFP it received a “hoax” threat, that “came from Men’s State, similar to others”, saying it threatened flights operating at the airport.
What is the Male State?
Some have linked the Male State to Russia. There is a far-right movement in Russia called the Male State, but AFP could not immediately confirm any link to the message.
Lou Osborn, founder of Inpact, a non-governmental group which specialises in monitoring clandestine Russian activities, told AFP that the group uses Nazi symbolism and has “thousands of members”.
The BBC, however, reports that “as of Thursday evening no hard evidence had emerged linking the airline hoaxes to Russia, Iran or any proxy groups controlled by them.”
Many security experts have pointed to Russia to explain an uptick in hybrid sabotage since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Several European countries, including Denmark, Romania and Poland, three all impacted by the hoaxes this week, have already suggested Moscow is behind hybrid warfare, while Germany pointed to Russia for an incident at Leipzig airport over the summer.
Eric Schouten, head of aviation security group Dyami, told Reuters that definitively proving a state actor is behind the group, and therefore the bomb hoaxes, is incredibly difficult.
“When it comes to a situation like this or even other sabotage attacks, it’s really hard to prove there’s a certain country behind it. But it does fit in the modus operandi,” said Schouten.
With reporting from AFP.
