Virginia Tech officials urged calm this afternoon amidst news that e-mails and Internet postings originating in Italy contained threats of an attack on campus on Thursday.

Tech police, Virginia State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are working on the case, and Tech police have said that the threats are not believed to be credible.

The case dates back to October, when a person or people using the screen name “NextKillerVirgTech” posted threats on the video-sharing Web site YouTube.com.

At least four Tech students interviewed by television reporters about those postings have since received unsettling e-mails alleged to be connected to the October incident.

Most of the messages have referred in some way to the April 16, 2007, shootings or shooter Seung-Hui Cho. More recently, messages have warned that some kind of attack would occur Thursday.

“While we take all threats seriously … law enforcement authorities do not believe these communications represent a credible threat,” Tech President Charles Steger wrote in an e-mail to the campus community today.
 
“Given all that this university has endured, I can understand how this can be very upsetting to the university community,” he wrote.

The university is scheduled to be open as normal Thursday with an increased police presence.