Fake bomb threats prompt mass evacuations in Moscow area

AFP  |  Moscow 

Thousands of school children, office workers and shoppers were evacuated from over 100 buildings in and around on Tuesday, reports said, in the latest wave of fake bomb threats to hit

Last week, 55 buildings were evacuated in Russia's second city Saint Petersburg and several other cities like Krasnoyarsk in and in the south were forced to act after receiving similar threats.

Tuesday's alerts prompted the evacuation of some 20,000 people as authorities conducted sweeps, only to find nothing, agencies reported, citing the emergency services.

The false alarms targeted more than 90 buildings in and over 40 in the region of the capital, the agency reported, citing an emergency services source.

Many of the warnings were sent by email and had very similar wording, Russian said.

Outside the of the Humanities in central Moscow, hundreds of students had gathered, with the university saying it had cancelled all classes for the day due to a mass evacuation.

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First Published: Tue, February 05 2019. 19:20 IST