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TERRORISM

Bomb threat at Austrian radio station a hoax

A bomb threat at Austria’s largest radio station Ö3 saw 30 police officers searching the broadcaster’s offices in Vienna before giving the all clear on Tuesday afternoon.

Bomb threat at Austrian radio station a hoax
Photo: APA

An anonymous phone call to Vienna police warned that there was a bomb hidden in Ö3’s offices in Döbling – which are also home to the teletext service and ORF’s online team.

Bomb specialists searched the entire building with sniffer dogs for an hour but found nothing.

Police spokesman Roman Hahslinger said that the phone call was made from a phone box and police are now investigating who made the call.

Austrian police and security services are on high alert after the deadly attacks in Paris last week.

Several newspaper offices and radio stations now have police protection.

On Tuesday evening Vienna public transport (Wiener Linien) also received a bomb threat at around 7pm and police searched the 49 and 52 tram lines as well as the 47a bus in Penzing, and bus stops along the route. Trains and buses were stopped before Waidhausenstrasse station. Shortly after 9pm the all clear was given.

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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