What to Know About the Bomb Threats Rattling Europe

Italy’s government said on Thursday that public buildings facing bomb scares should not be evacuated unless there was genuine evidence of danger, as hoax threats targeting schools, flights and other places continued to rattle daily life around Europe.

A day after hoax bomb threats were emailed to over 6,000 schools in Italy, prompting hundreds to be evacuated, the Italian government said in a statement that buildings that receive such security alerts should not empty out “unless there is concrete evidence, other than a simple mass email, suggesting a danger exists.”

It is unclear who is behind the hoax threats, which have also affected Ireland, France, Spain, Poland and other countries, and how they might be connected. But European officials have characterized them as part of a coordinated campaign to sow confusion across the continent.

“These messages are not meant to inflict harm; they are meant to spread fear,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy said in a statement on Wednesday. “Above all, those who write them want our fear, wasted days, mistrust and chaos.”

Officials have emphasized that the extent of the threats remains limited. The number of flights affected this month, for example, was a fraction of the tens of thousands that operate daily in Europe. When another wave of emails threatened hundreds of Italian schools on Thursday, only a handful were evacuated, according to ANSA, Italy’s main news agency.

But anxiety is running high on the continent, where hybrid warfare attacks and intimidation tactics have shaken air travel and other industries in recent months as Russia’s war against Ukraine spills over its borders.

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