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He is considered a lone perpetrator, yet the Vienna assassin, Kujtim F., appears to have been well connected. There are also traces of the man who killed four people in the center of Vienna last Monday and injured 23, some seriously, in any case. According to information from SPIEGEL, investigators from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) have been searching the apartments of several Islamists since Friday morning. This includes a total of four men from Osnabrück, Kassel and the Pinneberg district, with whom the Austrian killer apparently had contacts.
The federal prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe wants to find out if the men had anything to do with the attack. So far there is no investigation against him. A procedure initiated by the Federal Prosecutor in relation to the attack in Vienna against unknown persons is still pending.
According to information from SPIEGEL, the two Islamists from Osnabrück only visited Kujtim F. in July for several days at his apartment in Austria. The Austrian authorities are said to have noticed the meeting.
Islamist from the Pinneberg district
In Schleswig-Holstein, according to information from SPIEGEL, a threat with the surname W. from the Pinneberg district is in the sights of investigators. It is said that he lived with his family in Vienna, but recently returned to Germany. The 22-year-old is already registered.
Two years ago, the Hamburg Regional Court sentenced him to a suspended sentence for preparing a serious violent crime that was dangerous for the state. Along with five other Islamists, W. tried to travel to the “Islamic State” (IS) in Syria. However, according to the verdict, the group has already been arrested in Bulgaria.
The man, whose apartment has been searched, previously attended hate preacher Abu Walaa’s lectures in Hildesheim, who is currently facing court as a suspected IS member. Many young people from his environment had joined the terrorist militia in Syria. Anis Amri, the killer from Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz, also moved from time to time in the orbit of Abu Walaa.
Police found handwritten notes on W. in the spring of 2016 after attending an “Easter seminar” at the Hildesheim mosque. Investigators believed they recognized a list of things to do before embarking on jihad, which he denied. The note read: “Stay in shape, increase your sleep rate, spend the last month with the family, take goodbye photos, delete the PC.” In the talks, W. called himself “Mohammed al-Shishani”, Mohammed the Chechen.
German authorities alarmed
The German authorities were alarmed months ago by the contacts of the Austrian Kujtim F. in the German Islamist scene. According to information from SPIEGEL, terrorist investigators attacked the latest attacker and his acquaintances in Germany in late September as part of a so-called hazard prevention process.
These investigations allow the police to take temporary surveillance measures in the event of imminent danger. The BKA’s investigations, however, evidently revealed nothing of substance.
However, both the men from Osnabrück, W. from the Pinneberg district, and the man surnamed G., whose apartment in Kassel was searched on Friday morning, came to the attention of investigators. W. is said to have contacted the killer via Telegram. G. is said to have mutual acquaintances with Kujtim F.
Sleeping note
In the summer, however, explosive information leaked into the Austrian security apparatus. In July, Slovak authorities warned colleagues in the neighboring country that two suspected men were driving a white BMW with a Viennese license plate in Bratislava trying to buy ammunition for a Kalashnikov rifle. On 10 September, the Austrians reported through Europol that they had identified one of the two men: the Islamist Kujtim F. with a criminal record. The car was registered to the mother of another supporter of ISIS from Vienna.
However, before the attack, Kujtim F. was able to obtain sharp weapons (a Kalashnikov, a pistol, and a machete) without the Austrian authorities noticing. A commission of inquiry will now clarify how such a serious breakdown could have occurred.
Contacts with German jihadists
As can be seen in a ruling by the Vienna regional court, Kujtim F. met with two German jihadists in Turkey while trying to leave Syria in 2018. It is not clear from the documents who he was. Before Kujtim F. could cross the border into Syria, he was arrested.
In the spring of 2019, F. was sentenced in Vienna to 22 months in prison for belonging to a terrorist organization. However, he was released in early December and cared for by experts in de-radicalization.
Among those killed Monday by the 20-year-old Austrian with roots in North Macedonia was a German. Kujtim F. was fatally injured in a shootout with the police.
