Authorities in several European countries are trying to determine who is behind an unprecedented wave of bomb threats that has caused chaos at airports, schools and media outlets.
The alerts have affected more than 50 flights, thousands of schools have received threatening emails, and at least one cruise ship has been caught up in the incidents. So far, all the threats have proved false.
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According to CNN, the messages have been sent mainly by email, testing security systems in several European countries. When passenger aircraft have been targeted, authorities have responded immediately, diverting flights to other airports. In Hungary and France, fighter jets have been scrambled to escort the threatened aircraft.
Italy is among the hardest-hit countries. On Wednesday, around 6,300 schools received threatening messages, while a further 3,778 were put on alert on Thursday. Hundreds of institutions were evacuated, but classes continued as normal in many of them.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni urged parents to remain calm and raised the possibility of reviewing evacuation protocols. She said a threatening email sent to many recipients should not, by itself, lead to a school’s closure without concrete evidence of a real danger.
Similar threats also reached schools in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In Britain, Heathrow and Birmingham airports continued operating after receiving messages that authorities deemed not credible.
The scale of the incidents has prompted calls for a coordinated response at the European level. József Váradi, chief executive of airline Wizz Air, called for standardized security procedures and proposed a central body to handle such cases. He said he had also discussed the issue with representatives of the European Commission.
Experts say differences in how countries respond hamper information-sharing and efforts to identify those responsible. Grégoire Roos of the Chatham House institute believes Europol, national police forces and aviation authorities should work more closely together, compare technical evidence and check whether the messages come from the same source.
Tracing those responsible is also complicated by the fact that many messages were sent from legitimate email accounts suspected of having been taken over without authorization. Cybersecurity companies Proofpoint and Abnormal Security identified the use of these accounts.
Investigators are also examining whether this is a hybrid warfare campaign aimed at spreading insecurity and weakening public trust in European institutions. Suspicion has also turned toward Russia, which Western countries have previously accused of cyberattacks, sabotage and disinformation.
French President Emmanuel Macron said, however, that there is still not enough evidence to attribute the threats to a foreign power. He urged caution against jumping to conclusions, while experts note that individuals or non-governmental groups could also be behind the messages.
European authorities thus face the task of distinguishing genuine dangers without allowing anonymous threats to repeatedly disrupt transport and public services across the continent.
