After the attack in Vienna, security authorities are trying to shed light on the network behind the 20-year-old Islamist terrorist. Many clues point to Germany. For years, local jihadists have maintained close contacts with their comrades in the Alpine Republic.
Anzor W., 22, was contacted by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) at his home in Pinneberg (Schleswig-Holstein) on Friday morning. Officials were interested in his contacts via telegram messenger with the Islamist terrorist who shot four people in Vienna’s downtown a little over a week ago, among them a 24-year-old German student. Against this background, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office had launched its own preliminary investigation against unknown persons and obtained the search warrants.In addition to the German suspect with Chechen origins, the investigators also seized data carriers belonging to three other Islamists. Two of them had visited Kujtim Fejzulai, the Viennese gunmen responsible for the killings, for a few days in July. A Federal Criminal Police Office spokeswoman stressed that the four men were only listed as witnesses. So far there were no indications that they had been involved in the Vienna attack.At present, the state protectors are trying to investigate the extremist network behind the attack carried out by the North Macedonian Fejzulai, who was shot by police. In the process, the security authorities came across several clues that lead to Switzerland and Germany. As is often the case in investigations into the radical Islamic Salafist scene, personal contacts are very important.Anzor W., alias Mohammed the Chechen, was noticed by the security authorities already at the end of March 2016. When the state protectors arrested an Islamist from Münster during a road check for preparing a serious act of violence that posed a threat to the state, the then 18-year-old, who was born in Hamburg, was sitting next to the driver according to FOCUS Online information.The two were on their way back from an Easter seminar hosted by Iraqi hate preacher Sheikh Abu Walaa in the Hildesheim mosque. At the time, the North Rhine Westphalia State Criminal Police Office (LKA) was investigating the alleged leader of the terrorist militia (IS) in Germany. The Sheikh is alleged to have commanded a far-reaching radical Islamic Salafist network in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. The Abu Walaa clique is said to have radicalised young Muslims and recruited them for the IS. For three years now, the clique has been on trial in Celle for various terrorist accusations.The driver from Münster, a student of Abu Walaas, belonged to the group that carried out a bomb attack on a Sikh temple in Essen using remote detonators shortly after the police checked the car. The then 16 year old head of the terror cell later declared that Sheikh Abu Walaa had blessed him for his action. This happened at the Easter seminar in which Anzor W. had also taken part.The relations between German and Austrian Islamists are complex. These include the acquisition of false passports, arms trafficking, collecting donations for imprisoned brothers as well as for the Viennese hate preacher Ebu Tejma, who smuggled dozens of young Muslims to the IS.
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