Austria has arrested a 14-year-old alleged Islamic State group sympathiser suspected of plotting to carry out a terror attack at one of Vienna's main train stations, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.
The announcement comes just days after a Syrian refugee killed a teenager and injured five other people in southern Austria in what authorities called an "Islamist attack".
The Alpine country had previously seen one jihadist attack, in 2020, when a convicted IS sympathiser went on a shooting rampage in downtown Vienna, killing four.
A 14-year-old Austrian with Turkish roots, who had "radicalised himself on the internet" had allegedly "planned an attack" on Vienna's Westbahnhof train station, according to a statement by the interior ministry.
The suspect, who is thought to have been influenced by IS ideology, was arrested on 10 February after Austria's intelligence agency was alerted to his posts on social media.
The teenager is suspected of "spreading stories and videos with Islamist" propaganda via several TikTok accounts.
Prosecutors ordered his arrest on suspicion of being a member of a terrorist or criminal organisation.
At the suspect's apartment, authorities seized several knives, handwritten sketches with attack plans, as well as instructions on how to make explosives.
Investigators also discovered "Islamist" propaganda material, including numerous books.
The 14-year-old was taken into custody and has since refused to make any statements, Vienna Regional Court spokesman Christoph Zonsics-Kral told AFP.
With AFP
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