100 schools in Delhi receive bomb threats

New Delhi: At least 100 schools in the Delhi-NCR area received identical bomb threats by email on Wednesday, triggering mass evacuations and large-scale searches as panicked parents rushed to pick up their children. The threat was declared a hoax as “nothing objectionable” was found during searches. The Union home ministry said the bomb threats turned out to be a hoax.

The Delhi government has, meanwhile, issued an advisory to schools asking them to ensure that emails received at their official email addresses are checked timely.

Police sources said the email the schools received had the same source, suspected to be sent from Russia, aimed at creating panic. They added it was also possible that culprits may have masked their identity using the DarkNet. The special cell anti-terror unit of the Delhi police will investigate the bomb threat. The case is being registered with the special cell and a dedicated team will be formed to conduct the investigation. “The matter is related to national security. It needs a deeper probe,” the official said. The police will also probe foreign involvement, including of the Islamic State.

“Some schools of Delhi received emails regarding bomb threats. The Delhi police has conducted thorough checks of all such schools as per protocol,” the Delhi police said in a post on X. “Nothing objectionable has been found. It appears that these calls seem to be a hoax. We request the public not to panic and maintain peace,” it said.

The police said the content of the email to every school was the same, adding that it was sent from a user with email id, sawariim@mail.Ru. “Kill them wherever you meet and drive them out of the places from which they drove you. There are many explosive devices in the school...” reads the identical email sent to all schools.

The investigation so far has revealed that “Sawariim” (clashing of the swords) is an Arabic word, which has been used by the Islamic State since 2014 to spread Islamist propaganda. Thus, the police is investigating if there is a conspiracy of any organisation behind these threatening emails Sources claimed that a single IP address was used to send the email to all schools.

The police received at least 131 PCR calls regarding the bomb while the Delhi Fire Service got over 109 calls from different schools. They started receiving calls about the bomb threat at 6 am, an officer said. An official said that DFS also received calls even after noon and firefighters are still on the ground.

Multiple private schools in Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon also received the bomb threat, but the local police dismissed them as a hoax.

The bomb threat was received in 16 schools in Outer district, 24 private schools in East Delhi, 18 schools in South Delhi, 21 schools in West Delhi and 10 schools in Shahdara, four in Northeast Delhi and several schools in other areas too.

Special CP (Crime) Ravinder Yadav said: “These emails were received in several schools. Some hospitals also received these emails on Tuesday. Thorough checking was done… Even if it was a hoax call, we cannot take chances. We will conduct an investigation”.

Earlier in the day, the Union home ministry said there was no need to panic as the threat appeared to be a hoax. It said the Delhi police and security agencies were taking all the necessary steps as per protocol, it said. The Delhi police said it has conducted a thorough check of all schools that received the bomb threat but found nothing.

Delhi lieutenant-governor V.K. Saxena visited one school and said that the Delhi police has traced the origin of the threat emails.

Delhi education minister Atishi said nothing was found in the schools and requested parents not to panic. “We are in constant touch with the police and schools. Would request parents and citizens not to panic. The school authorities will be in touch with parents wherever needed,” Atishi said in a post on X.

Parents and guardians rushed to the schools to pick up their children. The school administrations made announcements on the microphone as parents rushed to collect their wards. Fire tenders, ambulances and lines of police vehicles were seen on standby outside the schools, while bomb detection teams and bomb disposal squads were conducting searches inside the schools.