Mass bomb threats hit more than 1,000 schools across Britain and Italy

Mass bomb threats hit more than 1,000 schools across Britain and Italy
More than 770 schools across Britain received identical bomb-threat emails, including 470 in Scotland and more than 300 in Northern Ireland. The messages prompted urgent investigations but were assessed by police as hoaxes.

Scotland’s cybercrime and fraud unit began a major inquiry into the source of the emails, working with law-enforcement partners elsewhere in Britain and internationally. Police said the messages had been assessed and were being treated as false reports. Northern Ireland’s Education Authority said the emails resembled a hoax threat sent to schools the previous month.

The same message then triggered a larger operational response in Italy. At least 300 schools were evacuated after receiving the email, according to Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara, who warned that the total number could rise. The message included a threat against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, stating: “We placed a bomb in the engine of your prime minister’s car.” It also threatened schools with the words: “We will destroy you.”

The email was signed “Mikhail Andropov,” the same name reportedly used in threats sent to European television stations and aircraft. Italian officials said a similar incident had occurred days earlier, when an email was sent to 280 school principals.

The incidents followed a recent series of suspected hybrid attacks targeting supermarkets, blood banks, aviation and broadcasters across Europe. While authorities have not publicly identified the sender or confirmed a wider operation, the matching messages and international spread have led investigators to coordinate across borders. British in panic: “Bomb!” and that seven hundred and seventy times