Hundreds Evacuated across Poland over False Bomb Threats

Hundreds of people were evacuated on Tuesday from hospitals and prosecutor's offices across Poland, including in Warsaw and Krakow, over a series of bomb threats that turned out to be pranks, the interior minister said.

"Twenty-one buildings in Poland received bomb threats," Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz told reporters.

"These threats have proven to be false alarms."

In the capital, 300 people were evacuated from the public prosecutor's headquarters and access was blocked to the four big hospitals, police spokeswoman Edyta Adamus told Agence France Presse.

Five hundred people, including patients, were evacuated from a hospital in the southern city of Katowice.

According to media reports, the bomb threats were sent by email and included the text "we'll show you who's boss". The messages said the bombs would explode at midday local time.

Citing sources close to the case, TVN24 news channel reported that the emails were sent by a group called Anonimo from servers located abroad.

The channel said at least 14 cities throughout the country had received threats.

Anyone responsible for a false bomb threat faces up to eight years in prison under Polish law.