Fresh Threats As Italy Says No Need To Evacuate Schools

Several schools were evacuated in Italy for a second day on Thursday over emailed hoax bomb threats, Italian media reported, but the government sought to reassure the public.

The government said there was no need to evacuate buildings over the mass emails, after scenes of panic and chaos on Wednesday as hundreds of schools were evacuated across Italy.

A threat supposedly from a Taiwanese account was emailed to thousands of schools — almost Italy’s entire state school network — on Wednesday.

Some schools were reportedly evacuated on Thursday following the new emailed bomb threats — this time from an account in the Philippines, according to local media.

Officials on Wednesday quickly pointed out that the threats, purportedly signed off by a “Mikhail Andropov” from “Misoginistan” were a hoax.

After talks with intelligence and security chiefs on Wednesday, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the messages were intended to “instill fear” and said that police checks had “found nothing in any schools”.

In a statement on Thursday, the government said that “without any concrete evidence to suggest an actual danger beyond the receipt of a mass email, buildings should not be evacuated”.

There is mounting concern in Italy and across Europe that a series of hoax bomb threats on flights and cyber attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems could be part of a hybrid warfare campaign.