By Alvise Armellini
ROME, Nov 11 (Reuters) - At least 300 schools in Italy were evacuated on Wednesday after receiving a bomb alert message, the government said, the latest in a series of threats and cyberattacks on supermarkets, blood banks, air traffic and TV broadcasters across Europe.
Italian Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara told La7 TV channel that the alerts were presumed to be hoaxes, adding that the number of schools affected was expected to rise.
A large number of schools in Northern Ireland
were also sent a threatening email, the Northern Ireland Education Authority said on Wednesday, but have been advised to stay open as the authority said police did not regard it as a credible threat.
"Following a nationwide bomb alert, we wish to inform you that all students have been taken to a safe area and remain under the supervision of teaching staff," one school in Rome informed parents through a messaging app.
The email received in Italy was signed "Mikhail Andropov, leader of the Vilayat of Misoginistan," according to a copy of the message seen by Reuters.
The same purported author claimed responsibility for email bomb threats sent on Friday to newsrooms in Ireland and Bulgaria.
Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said Wednesday's threats were "part of a strategy that is quite clear by now: to spread fear and create anxiety," according to Adnkronos news agency.
"It is not always the work of foreign countries or hostile entities. There are also attention-seekers and lunatics who, at a time like this, cannot wait to unleash terror in a city or a region," he added.
Italian police forces are investigating the matter, a spokesperson for Rome police said.
France summoned Iran's ambassador on Tuesday after accusing Tehran of a cyberattack that disabled refrigerators in hundreds of supermarkets last week. Iran's foreign ministry rejected as "baseless and hostile" accusations that its Revolutionary Guards were behind the attacks.
There are also concerns among European officials that hoax threats may be part of a campaign of "hybrid" disruptions, which many have blamed on Russia, aimed at countries helping Ukraine. Moscow has denied involvement.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, Giselda Vagnoni and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome, Sarah Young and Michael Holden in London, Writing by Keith Weir, Editing by Gavin Jones and Andrew Cawthorne)
