Schools across Scotland and Northern Ireland were evacuated on the morning of November 11 after receiving bomb threats, with 'hundreds' of schools reportedly affected by threatening emails that forced evacuations or sent pupils home.
All schools across Edinburgh were briefly evacuated this morning, according to The Herald, while classrooms in the Highlands and Fife were also impacted. The Education Authority in Northern Ireland said an email message had been sent 'to a large number of schools'. Pupils huddled under foil blankets in Kinross to keep warm after being forced to leave their classrooms.
Police treat emails as hoaxes
Police Scotland said the messages, which were sent to distribution lists across the UK, are being treated as hoaxes and there is no credible threat to the public. They added: 'Our advice is that there is no requirement to evacuate schools or keep children away from education based solely on the content of the emails.'
'Police Scotland's Cyber and Fraud Unit is carrying out extensive enquiries to establish the source of the messages, and officers continue to liaise with law enforcement partners across the UK and internationally.'
Italian schools hit by similar threats
A wave of identical bomb threats also hit at least 300 Italian schools this morning. According to La Repubblica, the message read: 'This is Mikhail Andropov, leader of the Vilayat of Misoginistan. We have come to annihilate you. We will carry out genocide against the Italians.'
'I've been preparing for this for a long time: to kill every single one of you. I've just left a powerful, remote-controlled explosive device inside a plastic bag in your building. I've positioned it so that the shockwave will spread throughout the building. All that will remain of you will be bones and a bloody mess.'
'We also planted a bomb in the engine of your prime minister's car. Then we'll finish off the survivors with stab wounds.'
Mikhail Andropov is also the name on the threatening emails sent to European television stations last week. Emergency safety procedures were implemented in Rome, Milan, Naples, Bologna, and several other provinces.
Previous hoax incidents
The chaos comes after hoax bomb threats hit schools across Scotland and Northern Ireland in October, with as many as 300 schools receiving messages before 9am warning devices had been placed on the premises.
