Hamas rejects Belarus claim over plane bomb threat

Minsk accused the Palestinian group of being behind bomb threat amid international outcry over plane’s diversion.

Belarus has said a false bomb threat that prompted a passenger plane to be diverted to Minsk, where authorities arrested a journalist on board, was written in the name of the Palestinian group Hamas. Authorities released on Monday what they said was the text of the bomb alert as officials sought to defuse a mounting international outcry over what Western capitals have denounced as an act of “state piracy”. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum denied his group had any knowledge or connection, the Reuters news agency reported.