German schools targeted in a wave of threatening emails, with over 830 institutions affected, authorities say.
Reports from the German news magazine Spiegel suggest that more than 830 schools across the country received threatening emails over the past May weekend. The majority of the emails, which were sent in the form of identical or similar messages, threatened to detonate a bomb. Many of the emails referenced the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.
Despite the widespread nature of the threats, the impact on schools was limited, as law enforcement agencies quickly deemed the threats as baseless and not credible. “The threatened bomb explosion lacks the typical characteristics that are typically associated with the phenomenon of Islamic terrorism or similar terrorist groups” a Bavarian investigator stated.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, 285 anonymous emails were received, while in Baden-Württemberg, around 180 emails arrived in a single day. Authorities are now investigating whether the threats were part of a nationwide coordinated action. The Rhineland-Palatinate Education Minister, Sven Teuber of the SPD, described the emails as “abhorrent attacks on places that should provide children and young people with protection, education and a sense of community.