[ad_1]
In the course of the investigation into the terrorist attack in Vienna on November 2, more and more indications emerge suggesting that the attacker may have belonged to an international network of the radical Islamist terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS). A German national who was convicted as a “foreign terrorist fighter” in Hamburg in 2017 and who lived in Vienna until mid-October probably played a central role.
The 22-year-old German has been considered a “large number” in Salafi circles since his conviction as an IS fighter, and the German intelligence service has classified him as a leading member of the radical Islamist movement. After his conviction, he moved his center of life, since January 2020 he stayed in Vienna and was part of the local Islamist scene. For example, he visited a mosque, where the later murderer also said his prayers.
22 years with contact with the Vienna attacker
It can be assumed that the two met personally no later than the summer of 2020, as the 22-year-old has been shown to have had contact with the two Germans that the Vienna attacker and his friends and acquaintances visited in the capital. federal in mid-July. Two Swiss who are part of the relevant scene in Winterthur also traveled to this supposedly conspiratorial Islamist meeting. Regardless of this, a separate meeting between the German and one of the leading defenders of the Winterthur Islamists in Vienna is documented.
Deported man after arrest
However, the German was arrested on October 13 in the federal capital on the basis of a residence ban issued against him under the Aliens Act and subsequently deported to Germany. Thereafter, the 22-year-old used the sometimes animated courier services to keep in touch with his acquaintances in Vienna and with the two Germans who were in Vienna in July. Whether it was also about preparing for the terrorist attack is the subject of ongoing investigations. In any case, it can be considered safe that the 22-year-old served as a switchboard for IS sympathizers in several European countries.
According to the information available to the APA, the Vienna assassin was classified as “dangerous” by the Austrian Office for the Protection of the Constitution on the day of his deportation, and an alleged intervention plan was drawn up after his purchase. ammunition failure in Slovakia will later be entered into a database. Now it is also certain that he had reference points with another IS supporter who has been detained in Vienna since the beginning of October. The native Turk is being investigated by criminal organization and terrorist association; he is said to have brought a young woman to Syria in 2017 and took her to the Islamic State.
Messages in chat groups are evaluated
In the course of the investigation against him, the Turk was observed by the Vienna State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Fight Against Terrorism (LVT) last summer, his phone was monitored and his call details were recorded. . It showed that the man was in close contact with six men from the murderer’s group of acquaintances, who are meanwhile incarcerated in the Vienna-Josefstadt prison for possible accomplices or accomplices in the terrorist attack. They all belonged to a chat group through which 2,671 text messages were exchanged and must now be evaluated.
