DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday said that Qatari fighter jets intercepted two of its commercial airliners in international airspace on the way to Bahrain.

The UAE’s state-run WAM news agency made the claim on Monday, citing the country’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

“The GCAA received a message from one of the UAE’s national carriers on Monday morning that one of its aircraft on a flight to Manama on a normal route had been intercepted by Qatari fighters,” the report said. “The flight was a regular, scheduled service on a known flight-path that met all the required and internationally recognized approvals and permits.”

Saif Al-Thani, a Qatari government spokesman, denied the UAE’s claim on Twitter, calling it “completely untrue.”

The UAE is home to two major national carriers, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad and Dubai-based Emirates.

Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry also issued a statement saying it “strongly condemns” Qatar over the encounter.

Qatar’s stock exchange dropped some 2.5 percent in trading Monday surrounding the dispute, one of its biggest jolts since the crisis began.

The Qatar crisis began June 5 with Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE cutting off Doha’s land, sea and air routes over its alleged support of extremists and close ties with Iran.

The United Arab Emirates said on Sunday that an exiled member of Qatar’s ruling family who had appeared in a video recording saying that he was being held against his will had left the UAE.

A UAE Foreign Ministry official said Sheikh Abdullah Bin Ali Al-Thani had come to Abu Dhabi at his own request as a guest after the Qatari government placed restrictions on him.

“He is free to move about and has expressed his desire to leave the state, all procedures were facilitated for him without any obstruction,” the official said in a statement carried by the UAE state news agency WAM.

The official said the claim that Sheikh Abdullah was being held against his will was “lies”, and blamed Qatar.

The leader of Qatar’s opposition Sheikh Sultan Bin Suhaim Al-Thani has condemned the interception of two UAE passenger planes which were on their route to neighboring Bahrain.

“Qatar first needs to intercept the Iranian and Israeli planes that are roaming its airspace instead of intercepting a civilian plane belonging to our brothers,” he said in his remarks on Monday via his Twitter account.

“The Qatari government spares no effort in escalating matters. When they meet, they start shouting and wailing and playing the victim's role,” he added. — Agencies