Rash of Airline Bomb Scares Continues

A Lufthansa plane en route from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv was diverted to Cyprus following a bomb alert. It is the fifth time in just over a week that a plane had been diverted because of a bomb scare. The German flag carrier said it did not consider the incident to be serious, however. "We came to the conclusion with the German authorities that this alert was not serious. We wanted to fly through to Tel Aviv but the Israeli authorities forced us to land in Larnaca," in Cyprus, a spokeswoman for the airline said. A bomb alert had been received just after the flight left Frankfurt with 331 passengers and 18 crew aboard, the spokeswoman said. Israeli military officials said the aircraft had landed at Larnaca, on the southern coast of the holiday island, and the Israeli air force was on a state of "very high alert." (AFP)