Austria’s intelligence agency has thwarted an Islamist terror attack on Vienna’s annual gay pride parade, as EU officials warn of a growing likelihood of Islamist violence in Europe.
The three male suspects — Austrian citizens of Bosnian and Chechen heritage aged 14, 17 and 20 — allegedly planned to attack participants in the parade with weapons, including air guns, sabres and axes that were seized by police, as well as possibly using a car to drive into the crowd.
Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, the head of Austria’s directorate for state security and intelligence (DSN), said in a press conference on Sunday said the trio had been monitored for some time and were apprehended by a Swat team after attempts to undertake “preparatory actions” for an attack.
The plotters had been kept under “constant surveillance”, he added.
Counter-terror officials in Vienna believe the three suspects had been radicalised online, with the DSN monitoring their consumption of Isis-linked propaganda.
Unsuccessful attempts were made by the trio to acquire more lethal, illegal weaponry from abroad, the DSN added, without providing further detail.
Organisers estimate that about 300,000 people attended the “Rainbow Parade” on Saturday, one of Europe’s biggest gay rights events, held on Vienna’s Ringstrasse.
The arrests come two and half years after four people were killed and more than a dozen injured in an Islamist attack in the city.
Since then, Austrian authorities have prioritised expanding their counter-terrorism expertise and reforming their national security apparatus after a series of embarrassing shortcomings were exposed.
The frequency of attacks linked to jihadist ideology in Europe has slowed in recent years, but counter-terrorism officials across the continent have warned of a resurgence.
According to Europol, six Islamist attacks were completed, failed or foiled on the continent in 2022, down from 13 in 2020.
However, the number of annual arrests of suspected jihadi terrorists by European police agencies has remained constant, at about 260 each year between 2020 and 2022.
During a visit to the US last month, French interior minister Gérald Darmanin warned that there was a growing likelihood of a resumption of Islamist violence in Europe, adding that it remained the “primary risk” among a range of terror threats on the continent, including far-right violence.
Dutch counter-terrorism officials said earlier this month that there were “increasing signs that jihadist organisations are preparing to carry out terrorist attacks”, as they raised the country’s threat level to “significant”.
The three suspects are being held in prison in Saint Pölten in north-east Austria.
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