Vienna, Oct 30 (IANS) A 14-year-old suspect has been arrested in the Austrian city of St. Poelten for allegedly planning a strike either at the Westbahnhof train station in the national capital Vienna or along the railway tracks leading to it.
Authorities have thus far only confirmed that the teenager, an Austrian citizen of Turkish origin, has been in custody since Tuesday, though the Kronen Zeitung newspaper reported Wednesday that he had made concrete plans to carry out a suicide bombing attack and that he was already very close to being able to do so, Xinhua reported.
The Kronen Zeitung report also alleged that the youth told the authorities he obtained the blueprint for the construction of the bomb on the internet, with an Austrian terrorism expert claiming that, if such an attack had been carried out, it would have resulted in numerous casualties.
Michaela Schnell from the prosecution office in St. Poelten did not confirm the teenager’s plans to detonate a bomb as stated in the report due to the ongoing investigations, though she did say he wanted to join the jihadist movement.
It is as yet uncertain exactly where the suspect was arrested and whether he has links to a terrorist organisation, with further details from the St. Poelten prosecution authorities yet to come.
