More and more details are becoming known about the 16-year-old terror suspect who was arrested in Vienna last Tuesday. According to the latest information, the boy wanted to stab scared passers-by with a combat knife at Vienna’s main station until he himself was shot by the police.
As previously reported, the federal capital may have only escaped a suicide attack in the name of IS because the young supporter failed to carry out his plans at the last minute at the central station. The 16-year-old initially wanted to set off fireworks at Vienna’s main station to cause confusion and later stab passers-by.
I wanted to go to “paradise”.
The 16-year-old is said to have spoken out about this in a Telegram group, of which he had been a member for several months and in which he had been further radicalized in a very short time, and was looking for reinforcement. According to his own statements, he promised himself a “paradise”, explicitly referring to the Viennese attacker who killed four people in the city center on November 2, 2020, before being shot by police.
It was not confirmed that the suspected Islamist had precise ideas about the selection of his victims. “He didn’t go there to attack police officers or specific groups of people. He went there because there were a lot of people,” said Judith Ziska, spokeswoman for the Vienna public prosecutor’s office.
Why the boy ultimately abandoned his plans, whether he simply lost courage or whether there were other motives, is currently the subject of ongoing investigation.
No previous convictions so far
The suspected Islamist has been in custody since last Thursday on charges of being a terrorist group and a criminal organization. The terror suspect has not yet appeared in court. He has no previous convictions.
Source: Krone
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