Twenty Austrian Taliban Killed in Syria

Since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, nearly 20 bodies of "Austro-Taliban" have been found.  They had planned to fight together with the fundamentalist militias.  According to international intelligence analyses, the terror threat for Austria is rising, because Al-Qa'ida does not differentiate between Germany and Austria when planning its operations.  

This is the disquieting summary of a specialist conference held by Vienna University at the Interior Ministry.  Following an analysis by Professor Ruediger Lohlker on the general emergence of jihadism, Wolfgang Wuerz, a former antiterrorism expert with the German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation and now author, set out the present situation from a European perspective.  

Successor  

According to him, the death of Usama Bin Ladin, the godfather of terror, has not changed anything about Al-Qa'ida's ability to spring into action.  Ayman al-Zawahiri is his successor in the organization's inner circle.  Moreover, offshoots on the Arab Peninsula and the Maghreb have been set up that now fund themselves autonomously. 

All groups have just one objective: crippling the European governments' ability to act by creating a feeling of widespread uncertainty among the general public.  This would include, for example, putting public pressure on the German Government to force it to pull out troops from Afghanistan.  

The most important weapon, Wuerz explained, continues to be the Internet.  He also sees a tangible "improvement in the quality of the Internet media."  

Terror Alert Level  

Britain, where people were shocked about the cruel murder of a serviceman in broad daylight, has issued a high alert level.  States such as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have identified Al-Qa'ida structures as being able to take action.  France is confronted with new threats following the military intervention in Mali.

 

For Germany, Wuerz sees a terror threat of "explicit topicality."  Does that mean the same for Austria?  Wuerz replied: "From a German point of view, I have to answer that in the affirmative, unfortunately."  The Al-Qa'ida leaders do not differentiate between neutral Austria and NATO member Germany.  Their targets are the German-speaking countries as a whole.  

Wuerz referred to the extremist scene around Mohamed Mahmoud, a Salafist from Vienna.  He established a radical youth organization in Vienna and went to Germany to carry on after his release from custody.  After he had tried to enter Syria illegally, he was arrested and imprisoned in Turkey.  

Peter Gridling, Director of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism, said: "We pointed out long ago that there is no difference being made between the two countries."  The Mahmoud case shows that the presence of just four Austrian staff officers in Afghanistan was enough to trigger activities.  

There are a few dozen Islamists in Austria willing to use violence, but their number is constantly growing.  Gridling would not want to rule out incidents such as that in Britain for Austria.  Yet there are no clues at the moment pointing to an imminent attack.  

Civil War  

The civil war in Syria is of special importance for jihadists.  Many see an opportunity there "to prove themselves in the battlefield," as their ideology requires them to do.  According to Wuerz, there are currently some 50 Germans actively involved with fundamentalist militias.  This phenomenon also exists in Austria, Gridling says: "There are people down there, some have already returned, and some were killed."  Gridling declined to disclose further details.  

Insiders say that these are mainly Chechen and Pakistani immigrants.  They have been recognized as asylum seekers in Austria, but are eager to gain military experience in Syria.  The number of fatalities among them is put at approximately 20.  All state security officials agree that the returnees from the war zone, once they are back, will pose the biggest threat later.

 

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