Islamism warning

State security calls for increased vigilance

Men with an IS flag

(Bild: APA/AFP/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)

On Saturday, a 14-year-old boy died in an Islamist attack in Villach. There is now a debate about how to assess the terrorist threat situation. In principle, Austria has been on terror alert level 4 since the fall of 2023, which is the second-highest level.

According to the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN), there have been no concrete plans for an attack recently. However, increased vigilance is required during the ball season and at major events. According to DSN Director Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, the number of people at risk is "in the high double-digit range".

The violent extremists are getting younger and younger. The youngest was only ten years old when the DSN became aware of him. Whereas until recently, so-called hotspot mosques were considered places where young boys in particular were radicalized, this process is now mainly taking place on the internet. Salafist and jihadist influencers and preachers are becoming increasingly popular.

Radicals have a "fascination for violence"
In addition to ideology, "above all a fascination with violent content" plays a role in radicalization, according to the report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Videos of killings and executions are almost always found on the cell phones of IS supporters, which they have received from like-minded people via social media or directly from an IS propaganda site. The same 2023 report also states that the suspects increasingly have "mental abnormalities and illnesses".

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and the collapse of the Syrian regime, the constitutional protection experts have noticed an increase in anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic propaganda.

Terrorism expert Peter R. Neumann from King's College London classifies the Villach attack as part of a jihadist wave "that has been on the horizon for months". The perpetrators represent a "new type". The internet is at the heart of radicalization, he wrote on the platform "X".

Online radicalization has increased massively, "Islamist 'influencers' on TikTok have hundreds of thousands of followers, reported the terror expert. Membership of certain groups has become less important: "Anyone can put together their own ideology from set pieces on TikTok or Instagram."