Austria Shuts Down Two Radical Mosques Attended By Vienna Attacker & Eyes More

It appears that in the wake of the uptick in terrorist attacks on European cities, the latest being the Nov. 2nd Vienna shootings by Islamist terrorists that took place in a heavily Jewish neighborhood and near a synagogue, some European countries are no longer messing around. But it appears much too late.

Austrian authorities have moved to close down two mosques attended by one of the killers which left four people dead and over 20 wounded. One gunman had been killed by police at the scene. The religious centers were believed to have contributed to the radicalization of the main culprit, 20-year-old Austrian citizen Kujtim Fejzulai.

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In addition to two mosque closures authorities are reportedly eyeing more that are known locally as preaching extremist and separationist Islamic messages calling for jihad.

According to Al Jazeera, “Austria will order the closure of mosques that it deems a threat to national security in the wake of a deadly shooting in the capital Vienna earlier this week, the Ministry of the Interior said on Friday.”

In recent history the Saudis have been well-known for sending hardline Wahhabi preachers to mosques in the West. Often governments whether in Western Europe, the UK, Canada or even the United States have looked the other way at the radicalism in their midst given the closeness of the Saudis with Western leaders, also has massive amounts of Saudi money flows through lobbying groups.

The primary suspect also had previously tried to travel to Syria to join ISIS, but he was inexplicably released from police custody early as he was no longer deemed a threat. His detention related to intent to travel abroad for terrorism was reduced for mere “good behavior” and he was released last December.

Islamic State claims responsibility for Vienna attack https://t.co/BXky2ERyuI pic.twitter.com/odKZZOh8XY

— Reuters (@Reuters) November 3, 2020

Austrian police are still investigating other potential gunmen or plotters related to the Nov.2 attack. On Friday police have reportedly carried out more raids on homes where individuals that were communicating with Fejzulai had been holed up. According to AP reporting from the day after the attack:

Police searched 18 properties as well as the suspect’s apartment, detaining 14 people associated with the assailant who are being questioned, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said.

“Yesterday’s attack was clearly an Islamist terror attack,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said. “It was an attack out of hatred — hatred for our fundamental values, hatred for our way of life, hatred for our democracy in which all people have equal rights and dignity.”

The attacker, identified as Kujtim Fejzulai, was armed with a fake explosive vest, an automatic rifle, a handgun and a machete, according to Nehammer. Before the attack he posted a photograph on a social media account showing him posing with the rifle and machete, Nehammer said.

Some Vienna politicians as well as much of the public has expressed outrage that security and intelligence services so obviously overlooked an ISIS-sympathizer in their midst who later acted on their terror ideology. The country’s counter-terrorism chief has since been suspended due to “intolerable intelligence failures”. 

The attack in Vienna followed last month’s terror attack in Nice, France, in which four people were brutally stabbed by a Tunisian man, including a lady that was beheaded at a central church. Prior to that a French school teacher had been beheaded in a Paris suburb for showing cartoons of Muhammad.