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Two Salafists intercepted at German border

Two more Islamist terror suspects were arrested last week at the Austrian border with Germany, according to a report on Bavarian Radio, citing information from the Munich prosecutor's office on Tuesday.

Published: 9 September 2014 15:06 CEST

The two Salafists – who believe in an extreme form of Islam – were arrested at the German-Austrian border accused of intending to join jihadists in the Middle East. The pair were heading to Salzburg on a bus, which was stopped in the border town of Simbach.

When questioned, they were unable to show their proper identity documents, broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk reported on Tuesday, and therefore aroused suspicion.

According to Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, they intended to travel to Syria. "Apparently they were planning to leave Germany, first by bus via Austria and then on to Syria", said Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann on Tuesday.

The arrests were made on German territory, therefore Austrian authorities were not involved. Both men normally live in Munich, where one of the men, from Kosovo, had been placed under investigation for attempting to recruit Jihad fighters in Germany. As a result, he was under restriction against leaving Germany.

In unrelated news, two underage teenage girls from Austria were prevented from traveling to Syria on Saturday.

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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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