Schools in Italy, U.K. and Ireland get hoax bomb threats amid concern over hybrid warfare targeting Europe

Updated on: November 11, 2026 / 9:49 AM EST / CBS News

Rome and London — Thousands of schools across Europe received apparently hoax bomb threats Wednesday, prompting mass evacuations in Italy. The threatening messages were sent to at least 6,300 schools in Italy alone, as well as hundreds in Ireland and across the U.K.

There have been no reports so far of explosives or suspicious devices found at any of the schools, but investigations were continuing. The threats came less than a week after more than 20 European commercial flights got fake bomb threats, forcing many to divert.

While authorities have not assigned any blame yet for the bomb hoaxes, they are fueling growing concern about the impact of wider hybrid warfare tactics that officials and security experts say Iran and Russia are using to target Europe amid the ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Schools in Rome, Milan, Naples, Palermo, Bologna and several other cities were affected, with lessons suspended and precautionary evacuations ordered. Police, bomb disposal specialists and the Postal Police conducted inspections and were investigating the origin of the messages.

Italian news outlets published an email they said was received by the schools across…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/world/