Thousands of schools in several countries receive bomb threats

 

 

Elin Swedenmark/TT

 

Published 12:01 | Updated 13:00

 

A police officer stands in front of an evacuated school in Turin, Italy. Photo: Marco Alpozzi/AP/TT

 

Thousands of schools in Italy, Ireland, and Scotland are being evacuated after receiving bomb threats via email.

“We want to wipe you out,” reads part of the threat contained in an email sent to Italian schools shortly before 10:00 a.m.

According to *La Repubblica*, the message was sent from an address linked to the domain of Dayeh University in Taiwan and is signed by an individual calling themselves Michail Andropov.

The same signature has previously appeared in threats directed at European television broadcasters, numerous flights, and Irish media outlets.

The sender claims that remotely detonated explosive devices have been planted in several Italian school buildings. In Rome, Milan, Naples, Palermo, and Bologna, classes have been cancelled, and evacuations are underway at more than 300 schools.

Italian Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara stated that the incident is likely a cyberattack rather than a credible, immediate threat.

“It is clear from the content of the email that it poses no actual risk,” Valditara told the television channel La7, as reported by ANSA.

Ireland and Scotland

Several schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland have also received bomb threats. At Londonderry Primary School in Newtownards, security checks have been completed with no findings, according to the *Belfast Telegraph*. "Everything points to this being another false alarm, and as such, operations have continued as usual," they write in a statement to parents.

In Scotland, the police consider the emails to be hoaxes, according to the television channel STV News.

"Our investigations have shown that there is nothing to suggest these pose a credible threat, or that there is any wider threat to the public," says a police spokesperson.

"Broader pattern"

When asked about the bomb threats, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto suggests that they could also be the work of compulsive liars or idiots.

"Any one of us could send an email to a school, a preschool, or an airline claiming there is a bomb. This is part of a broader pattern—one that also attracts idiots. It is not always a matter of strategies employed by foreign powers or hostile acts," he says.