Austrian in custody

Lower Austrian man in custody after attack in Mecca

During the bloodbath in Mecca, the Lower Austrian is said to have stabbed a total of five people (symbolic image).

(Bild: APA/AFP/FADEL SENNA)

A young Lower Austrian from the district of Bruck an der Leitha has been in custody in Saudi Arabia for over ten months. The suspected supporter of the Islamist terror militia "Islamic State" (IS) had caused a bloodbath in Mecca - the "Krone" reported in detail. Documents from Saudi Arabia now confirm his motive.

According to the documents, the young Lower Austrian had "religious-ideological" reasons. After his arrest, he is said to have stated "that his goal in SDA (Saudi Arabia, note) is to kill Saudi security officials and military police officers because they are Kharijites and work under the rule of the tyrant." 

Kharijites

Kharijites are the followers of the oldest religious sect in 7th century Islam. Today, their main branch is the smallest branch of Islam; the Kharijites split off due to disagreements over the succession of the Prophet that began after Muhammad's death.

According to Saudi authorities, the then 19-year-old is said to have bought the knife at a market near the mosque. But how he managed to enter the heavily guarded grounds of the mosque, where only people of the Muslim faith are allowed, still raises questions today. This may also be the reason why the knife attack was not reported in the Saudi media, according to a report by the Foreign Ministry at the end of 2024.

Bloodbath in a "highly secured area"
The bloodbath "took place in a highly secured area. It is therefore probably not in the interest of the authorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for this incident to become known to a wider public. The latter is probably the reason why this case has not been reported in the media," the report states.

As already reported in the "Krone", the now 20-year-old boy from Lower Austria is a close confidant of the thwarted "Swift assassin" from Ternitz. He is considered the main suspect in connection with the foiled plans to attack a Taylor Swift concert that was to have taken place in the Ernst Happel Stadium at the beginning of August 2024. Seized and now analyzed chats prove the close relationship and terrorist intentions of the two. They had initially published an oath of allegiance to IS on Snapchat and had been pursuing bloody terror plans since February.

Mother visited in Turkey before bloodbath
While the older man traveled on to Saudi Arabia via Istanbul in early March 2024, where he first visited his mother, and apparently carried out his plans there, the younger man was supposed to carry out an attack in Dubai at the same time. However, the man from Ternitz shied away from this and returned to Austria without having achieved anything, where he did not come to the attention of the constitutional protectors until the beginning of August. Only then did the Austrian authorities receive a warning from the FBI that the man from Ternitz was planning to attack the Swift concert. After a short, intensive investigation, the 19-year-old was arrested and the three Taylor Swift concerts planned in Vienna were canceled.

His 20-year-old friend had already been in prison in Saudi Arabia for five months at the time.