BAGHDAD — European airlines and a Dubai-based carrier are rerouting flights over Iraqi airspace as a security precaution amid fears that militants with the Islamic State group have ******* capable of ******** down planes, despite Iraq saying its skies are safe.

A number of European carriers, including Virgin Atlantic, KLM and Air France, say they have devised alternate flight plans for their planes. Air France specifically said it detected a “potential ******” on July 24 which triggered the *******’s decision, said Eric Prevot, a spokesman for the Air France’s Flight Operations Center.

The decisions come after a ***************** flight crashed over rebel-held territory in eastern ******* on July 17, ******* all 298 people on board. U.S. and Ukrainian officials say it was shot down by a ******* from rebel territory, most likely by mistake.

The ******* ***** has many in the aviation industry reconsidering flight paths as hot spots from West Africa to Central Asia could potentially put passengers at risk. Though experts say the skies are largely safe, there is a danger of militants using sophisticated *******.

Iraq is facing its ***** ****** since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops amid the ***** offensive launched last month by al-Qaida breakaway Islamic State group, which captured large swaths of land in the country’s west and north, including Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul.

When the group overran the cities of Mosul and Tikrit in June, Iraqi security forces virtually collapsed. In most cases, ****** and soldiers simply ran, abandoning arsenals of heavy *******. Some fear the militants may have captured some sophisticated *******, such as ground-to-air missiles capable of ******** down airplanes.

Many international commercial flights said they were continuing to fly normally over militant-held areas in western and northern Iraq until recent days, when Dubai-based Emirates publicly announced it would avoid the regions.

Air France said it is currently avoiding numerous routes over Iraq, Syria and Libya, as well as eastern ******* and Crimea. Amsterdam-based KLM said it stopped flying over Iraq last week, adding that it has suspend some flights to ****** in recent days as a conflict between Israelis and ***** in the **** Strip enters its fourth week.

U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines has no-fly zones over ***********, Iran, Iraq, *********** and *******.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said in a statement that it maintains “a set of contingencies relative to Iraq” but added that it sees “no evidence that either the capability or the intent exists to target aircraft overflying Iraq, by either side of the current conflict.”

The Iraqi government also dismissed the fears, saying that Iraqi skies and airports are safe.

“The Baghdad airport is highly secured,” said Nassir Bandar, head of the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority. “There is no ****** to airplanes passing over the Iraqi skies.”

However, an airplane landing at Baghdad’s airport has been targeted before. In ******** 2003, a ******* struck a DHL cargo plane on its approach to Baghdad’s airport, forcing it to make an ********* landing with its wing aflame. A U.S. military ************* later indicated the plane was hit by a surface-to-air *******.