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TERRORISM

Pro-jihad video ‘from Bad Gastein’

Austria’s Federal Agency for State Protection is currently reviewing what appears to be a pro-jihad video, which was posted on Youtube on July 28th, and is thought to have been shot in the picturesque spa town Bad Gastein, in Salzburg.

Pro-jihad video 'from Bad Gastein'
Bad Gastein seems an unlikely location for a pro-jihad video. Photo: Usien

Private TV station Puls 4 found the short video, which looks like it was shot on a mobile phone. It shows places in what appears to be Bad Gastein and has an Arabic voiceover and text.

"We're waiting for the words of our leader, in the hope that he comes to this place and hoists the flag of punishment," the voice says. According to an expert Puls 4 spoke to the man speaks with a Saudi Arabian accent.

The video is blurry and poor quality, with no shots of people. However, buildings and a church indicate it is the popular tourist resort.

"We are going to check the video," Interior Ministry spokesman Alexander Marakovits told the Austrian Press Agency on Friday.

The Mayor of Bad Gastein, Gerhard Steinbauer (ÖVP), has said he is not overly concerned, and wonders if the video might be a prank. “We’re not even sure that it is Bad Gastein – if it is, then yes, I might be worried… but it’s not even clear how old this video is,” he said.

 

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TERRORISM

What is the risk of new terror attacks in Austria?

Following the March 22nd attack in Moscow’s Crocus City Hall that left over 140 dead, European governments are evaluating the threat of terror attacks. Is Austria a target for fresh terrorist attacks?

What is the risk of new terror attacks in Austria?

With responsibility for the Moscow attack being taken by the Islamist terror organisation ISIS-K, national intelligence services are reevaluating the threat posed to targets within their borders. 

‘No concrete threat’

Austrian officials have been quick to give their appraisal of the situation. 

“We currently have the Islamist scene under control,” stressed Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of the Directorate of State Security & Intelligence (DSN) – the governmental agency responsible for combatting internal threats – in an interview with the Ö1 Morgenjournal radio programme on Tuesday. 

He continued: “The terrorist attacks in Moscow, for example, definitely increase the risk. But at the moment, we do not see any concrete threat of an attack in Austria,”

Other experts and officials have warned that while there are no concrete threats, Austrians should not be complacent. 

‘Situation is still valid’ 

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner announced tighter security at church festivals during the Easter period, in the days after the attack, and stressed that the high terror alert level introduced after the October 7 Hamas attacks was still in place. 

“This increased risk situation is still valid,” noted Karner.

READ MORE: What does Austria’s raised terror alert mean for the public?

Meanwhile, terror researcher Peter Neumann of King’s College London told ORF’s ‘ZiB 2’ news broadcast on Monday that Austria remains a potential target due to its Central Asian migrant population. 

Neumann noted that countries at most risk are those “in which Tajik and Central Asian diasporas exist and where ISIS-K finds it relatively easy to identify and recruit people”. 

He continued, identifying both Austria and Germany as “countries in which the ISPK is particularly active and which are particularly at risk from terrorist attacks”.

New threats

Austria has not been spared from attacks from homegrown terrorists.

On November 2nd 2020, amid Coronavirus lockdowns, Austrian-born Kujtim Fejzulai shot and killed four, injuring twenty-three others during a shooting spree across Vienna. He was ultimately shot dead by police. 

Fejzulai was already under surveillance by federal authorities for his beliefs and had been released from prison on parole less than a year before. 

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