VIENNA: Terror could have been prevented

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On Monday the heavy terrorist attack in Vienna, on Wednesday already a tangible scandal: the Islamist perpetrator was well known to the authorities, but apparently he slipped through the surveillance radar several times since his release from prison. The peak of the complete failure: In July 2020, the later attacker tried to buy Kalashnikov ammunition in Slovakia. The Slovak secret service reported this to Austria, but it had no consequences.

The known criminal

20 years old, born in Austria, dual citizenship with North Macedonia, Albanian nationality. Kujtim F. was well known to Austria's security authorities as an Islamist: He first wanted to go to Afghanistan for jihad, but failed to obtain a visa. Then he tried to join the IS in Syria. Kujtim was arrested from a safe house in Turkey, but his journey was not over, as we know today. He was therefore sentenced to 22 months in prison in Austria. "I never would have thought that he would become an attacker," says his former defense attorney. On December 5, 2019, the prior offender was released on probation. Because he was considered a young adult, he was entitled to the privileges of the Youth Court Act in Austria.

Kujtim F. was supported by the DERAD organization, which specializes in the deradicalization of Muslim youths and works with the Austrian Ministry of Justice. According to DERAD, he was not considered successfully deradicalized, otherwise he would have been released from supervision. The Ministry of Justice, on the other hand, was not aware that he had attempted to procure ammunition, otherwise he would have been immediately taken back into custody for violating probation. It is not clear why the convicted terrorist still had dual citizenship. Incidentally, he lived on €917 in social benefits - financed by the enemy, so to speak.

The terror run of Kujtim F. through the "Bermuda Triangle," the entertainment district in the 1st district of Vienna, lasted nine minutes. He carried the M70 Zastava Kalashnikov, a Tokarev pistol, and a machete (as seen in the lead image). The model was apparently the Paris attack, simply shoot into the venues and kill as many people as possible. Kujtim's tally: 4 dead, 22 injured, 14 with gunshot wounds. The Viennese police reacted very quickly. After three minutes, the first exchange of fire with the police took place - during which a police officer was injured. Five more short firefights with law enforcement followed. At Ruprechtsplatz, in the ninth minute of his death run - he is mostly seen running - the perpetrator encounters a quickly arrived ready squad from WEGA, the SEK of the Viennese police, and is neutralized. Bomb disposal experts were called to remove an apparent explosive belt from the body of the dead man. It turned out to be a dummy. The dead man still had over 100 rounds of ammunition...

The chaos in the city center lasted for hours - fog of war - because it was not clear if there were accomplices on the loose or if the perpetrator was acting alone. Reports placed incidents in much larger areas of the city center, but in fact the perpetrator was acting alone, roaming the Bermuda Triangle area in search of victims. Even the next day, the Interior Minister warned against visiting the city center...

In the media coverage of the attack, it quickly becomes clear that the dead attacker was not unknown. And ultimately, it is quite certain that the attacker could have been stopped before the act.

Watched or not?

Former Interior Minister Herbert Kickl (FPÖ) therefore accuses current Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) of "misinformation" in connection with the terrorist attack in Vienna. Contrary to his initial statements, the perpetrator and his environment were indeed under the surveillance of the intelligence service. The question arises why the intelligence service did not "intervene long ago."

On Wednesday, Kickl referred to information indicating that the perpetrator was under surveillance by the intelligence service - from immediately after his release from prison until his act on Monday evening. There were two covert investigative operations named "ANSA" and "ZULU." The former started at the beginning of 2020 and served to observe the Islamist scene in Vienna "including the later perpetrator." "He was therefore back on the radar of the intelligence service shortly after his release from prison," said the former interior minister. The second operation, "ZULU", focused on an Islamist group in the St. Pölten area, where house searches took place the day after the attack.

The botched warning

Kickl also sees evidence that the perpetrator was under surveillance by the intelligence service in the text of the applications for house searches after the terrorist attack. "It is unambiguously clear from them that both the perpetrator and his environment were on the radar (of the intelligence service)," he said. It stated that all persons were "well known" - and "frequented locations (mosques)" associated with the Islamist scene.

"The request for the house search also explicitly stated that confidential information indicated that the later perpetrator, together with another person, traveled to Slovakia in mid-July 2020 to procure ammunition for an AK 47 assault rifle" - information that had already become public. An original document from the Slovak security authorities would show that there had been intensive information exchange between various countries - "but also that the Slovaks were watching these activities and inquired in Austria about who these people were - and they received very detailed information about the individuals," according to Kickl.

Therefore, everything indicates that the later perpetrator was under surveillance after his release from prison. This raises the question of why these insights were not used to revoke the conditional release. It was clear that Kujtim F. had not been "deradicalized." In addition, there was an active effort to procure Kalashnikov ammunition. This only makes sense if someone has or wants to have a Kalashnikov. So why didn't the intelligence service intervene long ago? Kickl's answer, which is currently being seriously discussed in Austria: "The question arises as to whether this attack could not have been prevented through a responsible approach by the authorities. From our point of view, that is the case."

Raid in the Islamist scene

Another very interesting fact is that in the early hours of November 3, under the codename "RAMSES" - one day after the attack - a major operation including numerous house searches in the Islamist scene had been planned. This was also the reason for that. Was the attacker warned beforehand? Did he strike quickly on Monday evening to avoid being caught? An intriguing clue is that in the searched apartment of Kujtim F. after the attack, apparently unfinished explosive devices were found, which were intended to fill the explosive belt dummy worn during the attack.

"One can believe in coincidence, I don't," says Kickl. For him, the question is whether this raid was possibly betrayed. "Is there once again a leak in the intelligence service? And did this perpetrator strike because he learned something about it?" The Director General for Public Security, Franz Ruf, initially denied the next day that there had been no prepared operation against one of the detainees or the attacker. Strangely, as there had been talk of mobilizing the COBRA unit the previous week. The day after, the head of the Special Units Directorate (DSE) in the Interior Ministry, Bernhard Treibenreif, confirmed in a story with the newspaper "Kurier" that RAMSES did take place the day after the attack and accuses former Interior Minister Herbert Kickl of being "a major security risk" by mentioning the operation. There were plans to make arrests at 50 addresses. "To expose such sensitive information to the public endangers every one of our officers in action. That is irresponsible," says Treibenreif. However, at least the number of arrests was not mentioned by Kickl...

Thus, the Ministry of the Interior and its counterterrorism units are facing a tangible scandal: the attack could have been prevented if the radical Islamist ammunition buyer had been taken off the streets after the warning from Slovakia - and his preparations for the act would likely have been exposed.

Hopefully, this will not remain unresolved. According to a report in Macedonian by DW, the police are looking for four more persons: two Austrian citizens, whose parents also come from Macedonia, and two persons from Kosovo. In Switzerland, there were two raids on two known Islamists, and in Austria, there were 18 with 14 arrests. Vienna, as is known, is also a hub for the vital jihadist scene of the Balkans. Even the Islamic State has supporters in the federal capital. The attacker's nom de guerre also refers to him as "Abu Dagnah Al-Albany," the Albanian. The used assault rifle was a Yugoslav M70 Zastava Kalashnikov.

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