The FBI is investigating a series of terror bomb threats against U.S. airlines since the weekend, including a fourth Twitter warning on Tuesday to blow up an aircraft bound from Los Angeles to Chicago.
The agency received a threat that there was "a bomb" on board a flight from Los Angeles International Airport to O'Hare International Airport,
NBC News reported.
The FBI, which did not identify the flight, said that the threat was similar to other online warnings that have been posted since Saturday, all mentioning a "bomb."
When the plane landed in Chicago, the passengers and the luggage were screened, but no bomb was found.
However, within hours, more terror threats were issued against other flights from a person tweeting to Delta Air Lines, according to NBC News, which noted that the user's Twitter account was immediately suspended.
Two of the flights threatened in those Twitter postings landed safely as scheduled soon after warnings were posted, while two others had already landed hours earlier. Some flights referred to in the threats were already in midair while another aircraft had not yet departed San Francisco.
On Saturday, the bomb threats against
two flights to Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport turned out to be bogus.
Delta Flight 1156 was flying from Portland to Atlanta while Southwest Flight 2492 was traveling from Milwaukee to Atlanta when the threats posted on Twitter were realized.
According to WWL-TV, the Twitter poster alleged that he had smuggled in the bombs through a back entrance at an airport with help from a friend and then bragged if he or she was caught, nothing would happen except having his account on the social media website shut down.
CNN reported that F-16 fighter jets were sent to escort the two planes to the airport, while FBI special agent Britt Johnson reported that officials interviewed passengers from both airplanes after they landed safely.
On Sunday, a Delta Air Lines jet from Los Angeles to Orlando was diverted to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport after a bomb threat was made on Twitter, NBC News reported.
The same day two planes were evacuated on arrival at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport because of what a spokesman called a
"security concern."
On Monday, several Twitter postings surfaced with bomb threats targeting Southwest flights, although no flights were canceled or delayed.
And on Tuesday, apart from the Chicago-bound plane, there was also another bomb threat made against a Southwest Airlines plane in San Diego, according to NBC News.
Although at that stage there were no passengers on aboard, police inspected and later cleared the aircraft. It was not known how that threat was made against Southwest.
On Monday Jan. 20, a Delta flight received a bomb threat shortly before landing at
New York's JFK Airport that evening, but no explosives were found upon inspection.
The threat came from an anonymous phone caller who suggested that there was a pipe bomb on Delta Flight 468, Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo told NBC News.
"All threats are taken seriously and will be investigated," the FBI said in a statement.
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