Bomb threats expanded across Europe on Friday, targeting newsrooms alongside continued aviation disruptions.
British broadcaster Sky, Bulgaria's Nova TV and Irish public broadcaster RTE all received emailed bomb threats signed by someone claiming to be "Mikhail Andropov" with the subject line "Message to the West". RTE briefly evacuated staff in Dublin after receiving a threat warning of an explosion within 45 minutes. Irish authorities said Virgin Media, Newstalk radio and The Irish Independent also received hoax threats.
The Irish government said the threats "seem likely that this is a coordinated campaign of disruption" following ongoing hoax bomb alerts to aircraft across Europe.
On Friday, multiple flights were diverted or escorted by fighter jets. Hungarian Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said jets escorted airliners from Brussels to Sofia and from Prague to Bucharest and Cyprus through Hungarian airspace. NATO ordered an air patrol near the Hungarian-Romanian border, marking the first report of Western defence alliance involvement.
Denmark, Czech Republic and France reported additional bomb threats to aircraft on Friday. Czech police registered nine threats to flights using Prague airport, though no cancellations resulted. France reported four threats to aircraft over its territory, all of which landed safely.
About half a dozen flights were disrupted Tuesday and more than two dozen Thursday. No threats have proven credible so far.