Emails threatening with bombing force evacuation of over 300 schools in Italy, trigger alerts across UK and Ireland

New Delhi: At least 300 schools across Italy were evacuated on Wednesday after bomb threats sent by email disrupted lessons and prompted police searches. Similar messages reached schools in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, where authorities largely judged them to be hoaxes rather than credible threats.

Around 6,300 Italian schools received bomb warnings, Reuters reported, although only a fraction were evacuated. Pupils were moved to safe areas under teachers’ supervision, while parents rushed to collect their children. Nensi Bego, whose daughter attends Mazzini middle school in Rome, told Reuters that her child cried during the evacuation and remained shaken afterwards. Antonello Giannelli, head of the Italian school principals’ association, warned that even hoax threats cause anxiety among students and families and disrupt educational activities.

The Italian emails purported to warn of explosives inside school buildings and also threatened the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. Reuters said they were signed with the name “Mikhail Andropov, leader of the Vilayat of Misoginistan”, the same purported sender who claimed responsibility for recent threats to newsrooms in Ireland and Bulgaria.

Investigators have not authenticated the name or established whether one person or group sent the messages. No evidence has emerged linking the email signature to a genuine organization.

Meloni said checks had found no indication of a concrete danger and that police and government agencies were monitoring the situation. She called a ministerial meeting to coordinate the response, while the education minister, Giuseppe Valditara, warned that the number of affected schools could rise.

The defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said the threats appeared intended to spread fear, but cautioned that attention-seekers as well as hostile actors could be responsible. No explosive devices or injuries had been reported in Italy, and authorities had not announced arrests linked to the emails.

Similar threats across UK and Ireland

The scale of disruption differed elsewhere. In Northern Ireland, more than 300 schools reported receiving the same threatening email, but the police service of Northern Ireland said checks had uncovered nothing suspicious and assessed the risk to the public as low.

Police said the message originated outside the United Kingdom, without identifying its source. Northern Ireland’s education authority noted similarities with a hoax circulated last month and advised schools to remain vigilant rather than close as a general precaution.

Police Scotland also found no credible threat and said schools did not need to evacuate solely because of the messages. Its cyber and fraud unit was investigating the emails alongside British and international law-enforcement partners.

In the Republic of Ireland, Gardaí likewise advised against evacuations after assessing the generic threat as not credible. Some schools had already cleared buildings before that guidance, including schools in County Cork, local outlets reported.

Wider concerns over European security

The warnings came amid a series of hoax threats involving European airlines and broadcasters, alongside separate cyber incidents affecting supermarkets and other services. Some officials have raised concerns about “hybrid” disruption, involving cyberattacks, disinformation and intimidation intended to unsettle societies without conventional military force.

Such broader suspicions do not establish who sent Wednesday’s emails or why. Investigations continued across borders as authorities sought to identify the sender and limit further disruption to pupils, families and school staff.