Italy had hundreds of schools evacuated Wednesday after bomb threats arrived by email. Scotland and Ireland received threats, too, including schools in Northern Ireland. The messages claimed explosives had been planted in school buildings and even threatened Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Police are investigating the sender. Authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland say the threats appear to be hoaxes, but the disruption has spread across several countries.
Breaking news: Hundreds of schools across Italy, and some in Scotland and Ireland, received a wave of bomb threats on Wednesday, in what appeared to be the latest co-ordinated attack aimed at disrupting life in Europe https://t.co/aI9jAVzfWh pic.twitter.com/oXcC0qcUBP
— Financial Times (@FT) November 11, 2026
The threats come one day after the Justice Department charged three men accused of carrying out a campaign of attacks on behalf of Iran-backed groups. Prosecutors link them to nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and the United States, including arson and bomb plots targeting Jewish communities. One alleged target was RAF Fairford in England, where American military personnel are based. Investigators say the plotters planned to use vans loaded with explosives and other materials. One of the accused was already in a U.S. jail, allegedly relaying instructions to accomplices through coded messages.
There is no evidence so far that the school threats came from the same network. Still, the timing is hard to ignore: mass threats disrupting schools across Europe, while U.S. prosecutors are describing an Iranian-backed network accused of attacks across the same region. Europe is dealing with both the disruption and the question of who is behind it.
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