Investigators from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) have been searching the homes of several Islamists since Friday morning. There are four men from Osnabrueck, Kassel and Pinneberg County with whom the Austrian killer apparently had contacts, writes the weekly Spiegel on Friday.
Kujtim F., who killed four people on Monday and seriously injured a further 23 in downtown Vienna, is believed to be the perpetrator who acted alone but was linked to the Islamist milieu.
Traces of his contacts also lead to Germany, we wrote about the terrorist being tracked down here>>>.
A few months ago, the German services were concerned about Kujtim F.’s contacts with the German Islamist community. According to the Spiegel weekly, in late September investigators watched the later killer and his friends in Germany as part of a so-called security operation.
The federal prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe now wants to find out if the men had anything to do with the attack in Vienna.
According to the Spiegel newspaper, two Islamists, one from Osnabrueck and G. from Kassel, visited Kujtim F.’s flat in Austria and were there for a few days in July.
According to “Spiegel”, suspect W. from Pinneberg County has been in the crosshairs of investigators for some time. He lived with his family in Vienna, but recently returned to Germany. The 22-year-old was already listed.
Two years ago, a district court in Hamburg convicted him of preparing a serious act of violence that threatened the state. Along with five other Islamists, W. tried to leave for Syria to join the Islamic State (IS). The group was arrested in Bulgaria.
W. attended the hate lessons of preacher Abu Walaa in Hildesheim, who is now on trial as a suspected ISIS member. Many young men around him have joined the terrorist groups in Syria.
In the spring of 2016, after participating in the “Easter seminar” at the Hildesheim mosque, the police found W. Investigators considered them a list of tasks to be done before going to the jihad, which W. denied. The memo reads: “Be fit, build a sleep rhythm, spend the last month with the family, take goodbye photos, remove the PC.”
During internet chats, W. called himself “Mohammed al-Shishishi”, Mohammed Chechen.
Apparently W. was in contact with the killer from Vienna via the Telegram internet messenger. The second man from Osnabrueck had contact with Kujtim F’s friends.
Among those killed by a 20-year-old Austrian with North Macedonian roots was a German.
Kujtim F. was shot by the police.