The key facts

  • Around 160 schools in Northern Ireland and a number of schools in Scotland received letters with bomb threats
  • Police believe the threats are hoaxes and are investigating
  • Some schools closed or were evacuated

Mass mailing of threats to schools

On Monday, according to police and authorities, dozens of schools in Northern Ireland and Scotland received bomb warnings. According to Northern Ireland's Education Minister Paul Givan, 160 schools received the threats in the morning. The Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed it had received reports of a letter sent to a number of schools and is carrying out urgent checks, contacting schools. Police Scotland reported threats against a number of schools across the country and said it was treating them as hoaxes; the scale and nature of the messages in Scotland remained unclear.

Authorities' response and consequences

Givan told journalists that at this stage the threat is not considered real, but it caused serious alarm. According to him, the letters, as he believes, came from Islamists who threatened to introduce sharia law in the country and claimed there were explosive devices in schools, and were signed 'Allah Akbar'. Local media and Givan reported that some schools closed. Belfast MP Deirdre Hargey... Correction: MP Debra Erskine said that in her constituency in the south-west, emergency evacuation procedures were triggered at some local schools.