Wave of bomb threats: “We have come to destroy you”, more than 300 schools evacuated in Italy, threats target Ireland and the United Kingdom

At least 300 schools in Italy were evacuated on Wednesday after receiving the same bomb threat message, the education minister said. According to Italian media, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called a government meeting later on Wednesday after 312 schools received threats. “These reports seem rather to be part of a strategy aimed at causing alarm and concern,” the head of the Italian government wrote on social networks.

Our Italian colleagues published the message received by the heads of the establishment “This is Mikhail Andropov, head of the Vilayat of Misoginistan. We have come to destroy you. We are going to commit genocide against the Italians.” This is how the email that triggered the bomb threat to more than 100 schools across Italy begins. “I have been preparing for this for a long time: to kill you all,” it reads. “I have just placed a powerful remote-controlled explosive device in your building, inside a plastic bag. I positioned it so that the shockwave spread throughout the building. All that will remain of you are bones and a pile of blood. » The email continues: “We placed a bomb in the engine of your Prime Minister's car. » Finally, “we will finish off the survivors with knives. »

The security alert comes amid growing concerns in Europe over so-called “hybrid warfare” threats, which have targeted supermarkets, blood donation centers, air traffic and television channels.

Italian Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara told La7 television that 300 schools had been hit by bomb threats, adding that the number could rise further. “Following a nationwide bomb threat, we would like to inform you that all students have been taken to a safe location and remain under the supervision of teaching staff,” a Rome school told parents.

The large number of schools affected “demonstrates the lack of credibility of the threat,” Valditara said. Italian law enforcement officials are investigating the case, a Rome police spokesperson said.

Many schools in the United Kingdom and Ireland also received “threatening messages” this Wednesday, announced the police, who consider these incidents to be “false alarms”.

Police in Northern Ireland say they are investigating “threatening emails” sent to more than 300 schools from a source “outside the UK”, and similar threats have been received by schools in Scotland. In Ireland, such messages were sent to “a number of educational establishments”, underlines the police, who consider that “this threat is not credible and do not recommend” any evacuation.