Around 6,300 schools in Italy and more than 700 in Scotland and Northern Ireland were targeted, according to local authorities. It remains unclear whether the incidents are connected, BBC reported.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said initial checks had found no evidence of a concrete threat, describing the reports as apparently intended to cause alarm and concern.
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Italy’s Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said the messages were likely part of a cyberattack rather than a genuine security threat. According to Italian officials, a single email was sent to 6,300 of the country’s 7,476 state schools, while private schools were not affected.
In Scotland, Education Secretary Mairi McAllan said there was no risk to the public and that specialist cybercrime officers were working to identify the source of the messages. Police Scotland said the warnings had been assessed as hoaxes and advised that schools did not need to evacuate solely because of the emails.
Some schools were nevertheless evacuated as a precaution. In Northern Ireland, education officials advised schools to remain open unless instructed otherwise by police.
The emails sent to Scottish schools reportedly contained wording similar to messages received in Italy, including a reference to an individual named Mikhail Andropov.
The incidents follow a series of false bomb threats targeting airports, airlines, supermarkets and hospitals in Europe in recent days.
