The Austrian Government closes a mosque and a "radical" association after the attack in Vienna

The Austrian Government has ordered the closure of a mosque and an entity that controls another Muslim prayer center in Vienna considered “radicals”, four days after the attack perpetrated in the center of the capital by a sympathizer of the jihadist group Islamic State (Islamic State , in its acronym in English), as announced this Friday at a press conference by the Interior Minister, Karl Nehammer, and the head of Integration, Susanne Raab.

According to investigations, the perpetrator of the attack, which claimed the lives of four people and injured another 22, frequented these two entities.

Minister Raab has assured that they contributed to radicalize the terrorist, according to the data collected by the internal intelligence services.

The associations behind these Muslim prayer centers will also be dissolved.

“This is not an attack on religion, but a fight against extremism.

It is not an attack against the members of a religion, but a joint fight against the use of religion for radicalization ”, Raab emphasized when explaining the decision.

The terrorist, identified as 20-year-old Kutjim F., who was killed nine minutes after starting the attack, fired at pedestrians at various points in central Vienna on Monday at around 8:00 p.m.

He was 20 years old and his parents are of Albanian origin, natives of North Macedonia, although the terrorist also possessed an Austrian passport.

The aggressor also had a criminal record for terrorist association and was sentenced in April 2019 to 22 months in prison because he wanted to go to Syria to join ISIS.

He was on probation since last December.

The Interior Minister pointed out after the attack that it will be necessary to review the de-radicalization protocols, since the terrorist managed to "fool everyone" and go free without raising any alarm about his attitude before the attack.

As the investigation into the terrorist's environment progresses, which has led to the arrest of 16 people in Austria, another two in Switzerland, as well as a multitude of records, possible failures of the security forces also come to light that will be analyzed in a special commission on the attack.

Last July, the terrorist tried unsuccessfully to buy ammunition in Slovakia and the authorities of that country informed the Austrian intelligence services of this.

But the exchange of information, which apparently in principle did not allow the author of the attack on Monday to be identified as the alleged buyer, did not activate the alarms in time, the Government has affirmed these days.

However, this Friday, Minister Nehammer announced that there were unacceptable failures in the terrorist's control after his release from prison, which has led to the dismissal of a head of the internal intelligence services in Vienna.

Meanwhile, six of those arrested in connection with the Islamist attack have been released after suspicions against them have not been confirmed, the Vienna Prosecutor's Office reported today.

For another eight detainees, preventive detention has been requested and a decision is being awaited, a spokeswoman for the Prosecutor's Office told the EPA agency.

The other two detainees have not yet been sent to prison.

Those arrested are accused of having collaborated in the attack or of having ties to a terrorist organization related to the attack.

Investigations also continue in Switzerland, where two suspects have been arrested, and in Germany, where the police on Friday searched the homes and offices of four other people believed to be linked to the Vienna attacker.