Austria arrests 14 on suspicion of belonging to Islamic State

Record ID: 165937

  • Title: Austria arrests 14 on suspicion of belonging to Islamic State
  • Date: 26th January 2017
  • Summary: VIENNA, AUSTRIA (JANUARY 26, 2017) (REUTERS) NEWS CONFERENCE GETTING STARTED AT AUSTRIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY CAMERAMAN AUSTRIAN INTERIOR MINISTER, WOLFGANG SOBOTKA, SPEAKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (GERMAN) AUSTRIAN INTERIOR MINISTER, WOLFGANG SOBOTKA, SAYING: "It was a long-planned operation, started already in previous months and carried out with the engagement of 800 officers from various teams and various units. Sixteen house searches, two searches of Islamic community religious venues, eight realised arrest warrants and six persons were brought in for processing. Those are the results of this day." JOURNALIST LISTENING TO NEWS CONFERENCE NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (GERMAN) AUSTRIAN INTERIOR MINISTER, WOLFGANG SOBOTKA, SAYING: "Anybody will be pulled from the public for perversely interpreting religion, promoting a parallel community on one hand and hatred on the other." JOURNALIST WITH LAPTOP (SOUNDBITE) (GERMAN) AUSTRIAN INTERIOR MINISTER, WOLFGANG SOBOTKA, SAYING: "Radical Islam, Salafism, it must have no place in Austria. We will do everything with the power available to us and oppose it with all instruments." PHOTOGRAPHER END OF NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 9th February 2017 19:49
  • Keywords: Austria arrests terrorism Islamic State Vienna Graz
  • Location: VIENNA, AUSTRIA
  • City: VIENNA, AUSTRIA
  • Country: Austria
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA00160PY4HZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Austrian police arrested 14 people on Thursday (January 26) on suspicion of belonging to the militant group Islamic State following raids in Vienna and the southern city of Graz, Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka told a news conference.
    Sobotka said around 800 police officers took part in the raids and the co-ordinated action had been planned for some time. Sixteen houses and two religious venues were among the localities targeted.
    "Radical Islam, Salafism, it must have no place in Austria. We will do everything with the power available to us and oppose it with all instruments," Sobotka said.
    The suspects held for questioning include three women, three Austrians with foreign roots, two Bosnians, two Macedonians and a Syrian, an earlier statement by the Graz police said, without revealing much more detail, other than that there was no immediate danger of a terrorist attack.
    "There was no acute danger" and no indications of a concrete attack, a spokesman said earlier, adding that the detentions were not connected to the arrest of an Austrian teenager last week on suspicion of planning an Islamist attack in Vienna.
    That suspect, a 17-year-old with Albanian roots, was arrested on Friday (January 20) after tip-offs from unspecified foreign countries. Austria alerted Germany to a related suspect, a 21-year-old who was arrested in the western German city of Neuss on Saturday. A boy thought to be 12 has also been held in Austria.
    Police in Vienna have been on heightened alert since Friday's arrest and have increased patrols at transport hubs and other busy public places.
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