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Boy, 14, arrested over plans for attack at Vienna railway station

Boy, 14, arrested over plans for attack at Vienna railway station

Yahoo19-02-2025

Austrian police have arrested a 14-year-old boy on suspicion of plotting a knife and machete attack at a Vienna railway station.
The suspect, who had made detailed plans for his attack including sketches, was arrested on Feb 10, the Austrian interior ministry disclosed on Wednesday.
During a police raid on the home of the suspect, who was described as an Austrian citizen of Turkish origin, officers found knives and instructions for making bombs.
They also found sketches outlining the teenager's plans for a knife and machete attack on Vienna's central station.
Spiegel, a German magazine, reported that the suspect is understood to be a supporter of Islamic State.
Austrian officials said the teenager, who posted Islamist extremist content on TikTok before he was arrested, is refusing to communicate with them.
The interior ministry said in a statement: 'The suspect is 14 years old, an Austrian citizen with Turkish roots and has become radicalised on the Internet.'
It comes just a few days after a mass-stabbing attack in Austria by a young Syrian man, who killed one teenager and injured five others.
The attack occurred on Saturday evening in the Austrian town of Villach, near the country's borders with Italy and Slovenia.
Austrian officials said the suspect in the Saturday attack had also become radicalised by Islamist extremist content on the internet.
During the attack, a Syrian resident of Villach, Alaaeddin al-Halabi, used his car to knock down the terrorist and prevent him from killing more people.
Mr Halabi, a food delivery driver who fled Syria in 2015, told Reuters news agency that he sprung into action after seeing people lying injured on the ground.
He said: 'I immediately understood what was happening, there were people on the ground bleeding, and this person was waving the knife in a threatening manner.
He added: 'I immediately drove toward him and hit him with my car. The good thing is that the impact wasn't too strong, thank God... the goal of hitting him with the car was just to neutralise him or stop what he was doing. The goal wasn't to harm anyone.'
However, some Austrians turned on Mr Halabi after assuming that he was taking part in the terrorist attack, forcing him to lock himself in his car as they hit his vehicle.
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