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Two Air France flights diverted due to bomb threats

An Air France plane is surrounded by flashing lights away from the terminals in Salt Lake City.

Two Air France flights bound for Paris from the United States were diverted because of bomb threats, officials said.

Flight 65, on the way from Los Angeles to Paris, was diverted to Salt Lake City in the state of Utah after a bomb threat was reported from the ground, a US government official said. The aircraft landed safely.

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies surrounded the plane when it landed, evacuating nearly 500 passengers.

The other aircraft, flight 55 out of Dulles International Airport in Virginia outside the US capital, was diverted to Halifax, Canada and touched down safely.

A spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said no US military aircraft were scrambled in response to the incidents.

Air France released a statement confirming the diversion of the two flights from the US on Wednesday night.

It added that the flights were diverted because of “anonymous threats made in a phone call.”

Authorities said they will launch an investigation to identify the source of the telephone call.

The bomb threats came on the heels of a series of deadly attacks in Paris on Friday night, which French President Francois Hollande described as "an act of war."

Some 132 people were killed and many more injured in the shootings and explosions. The Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attacks.


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