The United Arab Emirates on Monday accused fighter jets belonging to rival Qatar of “intercepting” a passenger plane en route to Bahrain. Doha denied the accusation in an ongoing row over alleged airspace violations.
The General Civil Aviation Authority received a message from a national carrier on Monday morning that “an aircraft on a routine flight to Manama was intercepted by Qatari fighter jets in a flagrant and serious threat to the safety of civil aviation and a clear violation of international law,” it said in a statement carried by the UAE state news agency.
“This is a routine flight that has all the required paperwork,” it said.
A spokeswoman for Qatar’s foreign ministry denied the accusations.
“The state of Qatar announces that the claims of Qatari fighter planes intercepting a UAE civil aircraft (are) completely false,” Lulwa al-Khater said on Twitter.
The United Arab Emirates is one of four Arab states that cut all ties with Qatar in June, accusing it of ties, accusing the kingdom of sponsoring terrorism and destabilizing the region.
Qatar has rejected the claims while maintaining that it is paying the price for its independent foreign policy.
Source: AFP
