Group ‘take responsibility’ for bomb threat which forced Aer Lingus flight to land at French airbase

They said they were targeting the 'feminist regime'.

The incidents have caused travel disruption in a number of airports across Europe, with more than 10 flights affected by bomb threats.

Now, as per reports in Italy, the bomb threat was made by a group called 'Combattenti dello Stato maschile', literally translated as Fighters of the Male State.

The group claimed to be targeting the 'feminist regime' specifically for the flights heading to Rome.

The threat was sent as an email to the airport authorities in the Italian capital and has been confirmed by the BBC.

It read: "You are all complicit in a criminal conspiracy.

"We want to destroy you for this. Precisely for this reason, at this precise moment, explosive devices have been placed on the following flights: AY1761, Helsinki - Italy; EL402, Dublin - Italy.

"They are headed to your airport. We, fighters of the Male State, will leave a mark on history with our actions today.

"Your feminist regime will remember this forever. The explosion will occur in 60 minutes. Today your sky will be red." 

One of the affected flights was an Aer Lingus plane from Dublin to Rome, which had to divert to a French air base.

The aircraft started squawking 7700, the internationally recognised sign for an emergency, just south of Paris, before it turned back on itself and performed several loops.

This was followed by reports of four flights to Prague in the Czech Republic calling in bomb threats, while some flights to Bulgaria and Italy were also affected.

This caused disruption at a number of airports, as they had to close or make special exceptions for landing aircraft.

The people behind these other threats remain unknown. It is not clear whether they are connected.

This comes just days after a series of other bomb threats were called in across Europe earlier this week.

At least four Ryanair flights were affected, as well as flights of commercial airlines SAS, Lot and Wizz Air.