Bomb threats and cyberattacks disrupt European schools and flights

Distinct emergencies hit schools, air traffic and food supply chains across Europe over seventy hours. Italian authorities received bomb-threat emails targeting 271 schools. Eight of the schools are located in Rome, according to RaiNews.

At the Gianni Rodari primary school in Rome's Tuscolano district, pupils were evacuated to Villa Lais while bomb disposal experts checked the buildings. Checks also took place in Liguria, Veneto, Lombardy and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The emails bore the signature of a self-proclaimed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a circumstance that does not prove Iranian involvement.

A bomb threat also targeted Ryanair flight FR4438 from Riga to Rome Fiumicino, announcing an explosion. The flight landed regularly on November 2. A local outlet reported two further alerts on flights bound for Rome on November 3, without independent confirmation.

Wizz Air confirmed that a London Luton–Sofia flight diverted to Budapest under escort by a Hungarian Gripen jet; checks found no explosives. Reuters reported that on November 3 two flights to Warsaw from London and Copenhagen underwent checks, temporarily blocking Modlin airport. In Spain, protocols were activated at Murcia after an alert on a Ryanair flight.

Separately, false alerts about nuclear and chemical raids reached smartphones in Russia and Ukraine via emergency apps. Hours later, Kyiv and Moscow reported cyberattacks on their digital alert systems. The Ukrainian air force denied any radiation danger through a Telegram message, admitting an intrusion into its security app. Russia's Emergencies Ministry issued a similar notice.

Experts are divided on whether the incidents share a single coordinator. Zenita Group cyber director Pierguido Iezzi cited an anomalous sequence of events that could suggest hybrid warfare. William Nonnis, a technology analyst at the Italian presidency of the Council of Ministers, warned there is no proof of a single command, although the succession of events suggests possible coordination.