At least 300 schools in Italy evacuated after receiving the same emailed bomb alert
At least 300 schools across Italy were evacuated on Wednesday after receiving the same emailed bomb alert, Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said, adding that the alerts were presumed to be hoaxes and that the number of schools affected could rise. The email was signed "Mikhail Andropov, leader of the Vilayat of Misoginistan", a government source said, and police are investigating. No device or injury has been reported. Schools in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland received similar emails the same morning, which police there are treating as hoaxes with no credible threat found.
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Key points
- Education Minister Valditara: 300 schools affected, the alerts presumed to be hoaxes, and the number could rise.
- The email was signed "Mikhail Andropov, leader of the Vilayat of Misoginistan", a government source says; police are investigating.
- No device or injury has been reported in Italy.
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- Police in Scotland and Ireland are treating the same morning's emails there as hoaxes with no credible threat found.
What happened
The alert came amid rising concern in Europe about so-called hybrid warfare threats, which in recent weeks have targeted supermarkets, blood banks, air traffic and television broadcasters. A similar wave of emailed threats reached hundreds of schools in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Hungary and Serbia on 19 October and was treated by police as a hoax.
Wednesday's evacuations were precautionary: schools moved pupils to safe areas while police investigated, and the Italian minister's own assessment, given while evacuations were still under way, was that the alerts were presumed hoaxes.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- That at least 300 Italian schools were evacuated, on the education minister's own figure, and that police are investigating.
- That no device or injury has been reported, and that police in Scotland and Ireland call the emails there hoaxes with no credible threat.
What we don't know yet
- Who sent the emails — the signature and its claimed links to last week's threats are not established.
- The final number of schools affected in Italy — the minister said the count could rise.
- Whether Italian police will reach the same hoax assessment as their UK and Irish counterparts.
Claim by claim
Show all claims (3)
Why this label: The evacuations and the figure are the education minister's own statement, reported by Reuters; ANSA reports evacuations at dozens of schools in several cities in agreement. No device or injury is reported in any of the reporting read.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The signature rests on one government source in Reuters' report, and the link to last week's threats is TT's account via Rai. Who sent the emails has not been established by any authority in the reporting read.
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
Why this label: Each police force's assessment is its own statement, reported on Wednesday. Those assessments cover the UK and Irish emails; Italy's police have not yet published an equivalent assessment in the reporting read.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why it matters
A single email emptied at least 300 schools in one morning, in at least four countries at once. Whether or not any device exists, mass hoax alerts are themselves the disruption — and European police are now treating them as a recurring tactic to be answered without panic and without ignoring them.
Background
A wave of emailed bomb threats reached hundreds of schools in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Hungary and Serbia; police treated that wave as a hoax and no bombs were found.
Email bomb threats were sent to newsrooms in Ireland and Bulgaria; Reuters reports the same purported author later claimed responsibility for them.
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Published in Checking state — the evacuations and the minister's figure are on the record, and who sent the email is still unknown.