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TERRORISM

Austrian teens ‘wanted to be jihadi brides’

Three teenage girls from Graz have been detained in custody in Jakomini prison after allegedly planning to leave Austria for Syria where they intended to marry Islamic State fighters.

Published: 27 March 2015 13:03 CET
Austrian teens ‘wanted to be jihadi brides’
Graz's Jakomini prison. Photo: APA

The girls, aged 15, 16 and 19, are reported to be originally from Chechnya.

According to the Kronen Zeitung newspaper they were able to communicate with jihadists after getting in touch with a 16-year-old Bosnian girl from Salzburg and her 17-year-old friend, who had tried to travel to Syria via Romania at the end of last year but were stopped by police. 

The three girls had communicated with the women from Salzburg over the phone and had also been in contact with men in Syria, prosecutor Christian Kroschl confirmed.

All three had planned to marry Islamic State fighters and the 16-year-old had even participated in a “marriage ceremony” with a jihadist via Skype.

Kroschl said that the eldest girl had already planned her departure by plane from Vienna on April 24th and had purchased a ticket.

The girls – two are students, and one is learning to be a hairdresser – will be held in custody until April 7th.

They were arrested last Friday, and are likely to be charged with participation in a terrorist organization.


 

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?

Published: 28 March 2024 12:32 CET
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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