Austria arrests 14-year-old on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack in Vienna

February 19, 2025

From the Austrian edition of The Local

Austrian authorities have prevented a planned attack at Vienna’s Westbahnhof railway station, arresting a 14-year-old suspect. The teenager was detained on February 10th by officers from the State Security and Counter-Terrorism Office (LSE) and the WEGA task force, the Ministry of the Interior announced on Wednesday.

According to the police statement, the boy was found in possession of two knives and a large quantity of material suggesting that he was a supporter of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organisation.

The ministry did not provide further details about the suspect’s background or potential links to extremist networks, and the investigation is ongoing, as reported by DerStandard.

The arrest comes amid heightened concerns over extremist attacks in Austria.

According to Der Standard the boy, like Ahmad G in Villach last week, was radicalised via Tiktok. He has Austrian citizenship and Turkish heritage. The material he viewed in the course of his radicalisation include videos of a former IS leader, a preacher who once supported al-Qaeda and an excerpt of the Islamist terrorist attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2025.

His plan of attack on the Westbahnhof looks accurate and includes the platforms conceretly marked, the U6, a knife, a machete, the word “Kuffar” (infidels, note) and an escape route. He had a list of bomb making equipment but not mixing instructions and no acid or detonators.

His lawyer says he has developed fantasies, she blames the authorities for not regulating tiktok and recommends her client be sent to a deradicalisation centre.

The tiktok posts raised the alarm to the authorities and they searched his home on 10th February; they found more than they anticipated.