Italy schools hit by second day of hoax bomb threats; government urges calm

Italian authorities faced a second day of hoax bomb threats targeting schools Thursday, with new emailed warnings reportedly originating from a Philippines-based account after Wednesday's mass evacuation of hundreds of schools nationwide. The initial threats Wednesday came from what appeared to be a Taiwanese account, signed by a fictitious 'Mikhail Andropov' from 'Misoginistan,' prompting panic-driven evacuations across Italy's state school network.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, after meeting with intelligence chiefs Wednesday, declared the messages a deliberate attempt to 'instill fear' and confirmed police sweeps found zero explosives in any school. On Thursday, the government explicitly advised against evacuating buildings based solely on mass emails without concrete evidence of actual danger.

Security analysts are linking the school threats to a broader pattern: recent hoax bomb alerts on European flights and cyber attacks disrupting supermarket refrigeration systems across the continent. The concern is that these coordinated disruptions may constitute a hybrid warfare campaign designed to test emergency responses and sow instability.

For Nigerians, the episode underscores how low-cost digital tools can trigger high-impact panic and resource diversion—a tactic not limited to Europe. Nigerian institutions, particularly schools and transport hubs, should review verification protocols for emailed threats to avoid unnecessary evacuations that disrupt learning and strain emergency services.

What verification steps should your workplace or children's school have in place before evacuating over an emailed threat?

SOURCE: https://www.channelstv.com/2026/11/12/fresh-threats-as-italy-says-no-need-to-evacuate-schools/