Hoax bomb alerts sent to thousands of schools across Italy, UK and Ireland

Thousands of schools across Italy, the UK, and Ireland received hoax bomb threat emails on November 11, 2026, forcing the evacuation of over 300 Italian institutions. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni convened an emergency meeting with security officials, stating there is no concrete danger. The messages, signed by a purported extremist group, mirror recent false bomb alerts on commercial flights and cyberattacks on European supermarkets and blood banks. Officials suspect hybrid warfare efforts linked to Russia or Iran, though both nations deny involvement.

Italian School alerts and evacuations

• ▪Precautionary school evacuations took place across multiple Italian cities including Rome, Milan, Naples, Palermo, and Bologna
• ▪Italian Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara confirmed that at least 312 of the approximately 6,300 schools in Italy receiving hoax bomb threat emails on November 11, 2026, underwent precautionary evacuations

Threats across the UK and Ireland

• ▪Police in Scotland and Northern Ireland investigated the origin of the mass hoax emails sent to schools on November 11, 2026
• ▪Threatening bomb emails were sent to hundreds of schools across Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland
• ▪Police forces in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland declared the November 11, 2026 school bomb threats to be non-credible hoaxes and advised schools to remain open

Email contents and sender claims

• ▪The bomb threat emails sent to Italian schools on November 11, 2026, purported to be from 'Mikhail Andropov, leader of the Vilayat of Misoginistan' and threatened a genocide against the Italian people
• ▪The bomb threat emails sent to Italian schools on November 11, 2026, claimed an explosive device was hidden in a plastic bag and included a threat against Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

Official responses and security assessment

• ▪Antonello Giannelli, head of the Italian School Principals Association, stated that despite being hoaxes, the bomb threats sent to Italian schools caused significant disruption and alarm for students, families, and school staff
• ▪Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stated there was no concrete danger from the November 11, 2026 school bomb threats and convened an emergency meeting with intelligence and cybersecurity officials
• ▪Italian Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara described the November 11, 2026 school threats as low reliability cyberattacks rather than a genuine physical security risk
• ▪Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto characterized the wave of emails on November 11, 2026, as part of a strategy to sow panic and disruption, while noting attention-seekers could also be involved

Origins of bomb threat emails

• ▪An Italian national security source noted that automated mass emailing was simple to execute because Italian public school email addresses are published online
• ▪The purported author of the Italian school bomb threats also claimed responsibility for bomb threat emails sent to Irish and Bulgarian newsrooms on November 6, 2026

Wider context of cyber threats in Europe

• ▪The November 11, 2026 school bomb alerts in Italy, the UK and Ireland followed a wave of false bomb threats targeting European airlines and commercial flights during the first week of November 2026
• ▪Lithuanian intelligence services previously attributed an October 2023 campaign of false bomb threats against 1,500 schools and kindergartens in Lithuania to Russia
• ▪France summoned Iran's ambassador after accusing Tehran of a cyberattack in October 2026 that destroyed refrigerated inventory at hundreds of French supermarkets
• ▪European infrastructure has recently faced a series of cyberattacks and threats targeting supermarkets, blood banks, air traffic controllers, and TV broadcasters