False bomb alerts target hundreds of schools in Europe

Hundreds of schools in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Hungary, and Serbia received bomb threat messages on Monday, leading to the evacuation of some of them, according to local authorities, who consider them hoaxes. It is currently unknown whether these incidents are related or not. In Northern Ireland, "up to 300 schools reported receiving the same email containing a threat," the police indicated. It specified that this message "came from outside the United Kingdom" and that it considered it a "hoax." The Northern Irish Minister of Education, Paul Givan, had previously stated that this threat "seemed to emanate from Islamists claiming that sharia would be established in the country and that real explosive devices would be in these establishments." He had added that some schools had closed. In parallel, the Scottish police indicated on Monday that they were investigating "threatening messages sent to several schools" in the territory, without providing details on the nature of the threat. They also consider them "hoaxes." Elsewhere in Europe, emails were sent to local media in Hungary, claiming that bombs had been placed in more than 70 schools across the country, according to the police. Many establishments were evacuated, but the authorities indicated that no bombs had been found. "Based on the investigations conducted so far, this morning's threats have proven unfounded," stated the Hungarian Minister of Interior, Gabor Posfai, on Facebook. In neighboring Serbia, the public broadcaster RTS reported that more than 100 schools had also received bomb alerts.