Italy evacuates hundreds of schools after nationwide bomb threats

At least 300 schools in Italy were evacuated on Wednesday after the same bomb alert message arrived at each of them, Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said. He told the La7 TV channel that 300 schools had been hit, and warned the figure could climb higher as reports kept coming in.

One school in Rome told parents that students had been moved to a safe area and were staying under the supervision of teaching staff following what it described as a nationwide bomb alert. Police forces across the country are investigating, a spokesperson for Rome police said.

The email behind the alerts was signed by someone calling himself 'Mikhail Andropov, leader of the Vilayat of Misoginistan,' according to a government source with knowledge of the matter.

The scare comes as European authorities grow more worried about so-called hybrid warfare threats, which have already hit supermarkets, blood banks, air traffic operations and TV broadcasters across the continent.