VIENNA, Austria — A Turkish Muslim with known terror connections reportedly attempted to recreate last year’s car attack in Graz (pictured above) in an action that occurred just hours after a court found the Bosnian perpetrator guilty of those killings.
Last year a Bosnian Muslim male killed four people in the Austrian city of Graz, using his car to mount the pavements and run down pedestrians at high speeds. The trial for Alen Rizvanović, who lied about not being Muslim, ended in court this week with the attacker being found guilty of multiple murders. One of his victims was just four years old.
The day the verdict was read in court a Turkish Muslim in Vienna attempted to recreate the killing in a migrant-heavy district, while shouting of “Allah U Ackbar” reports Kronen Zeitung.
The attack took place on Quellenstraße at around 11am in the morning and saw the 21-year-old Turk use his car as a weapon in an attempt to run over as many pedestrians as he could. The method is similar in character to recent events such as the Graz attack in June of 2015 and the Nice attack earlier this year which saw 86 people murdered by a 31-year-old Tunisian migrant.
According to witnesses, the man yelled “Allah U Ackbar” as he attempted to cause harm to the pedestrians on the busy street. Fortunately pedestrians were able to jump out of the way of the speeding vehicle and no one was injured by the man who then fled the scene.
Police were called and were able to catch up to the attacker who was promptly arrested and is reported to have screamed “Allah U Ackbar” once again as he was being detained by authorities.
Austrian domestic intelligence were able to confirm that the man had known links to terrorist organizations though did not go into detail on if he had contact with a group like the Islamic state who have often taken responsibility for similar attacks.
The suspect’s name was later released by police who identified him as Ibrahim C. and attempted to conduct a search of his residence when they were met with violence from his brother who punched one of the officers who was taking part in the search. Although the brother was briefly arrested he was later released and claimed that he was merely fighting “state oppression.”
The Associated Press reports police are now interrogating the would-be killer on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist group, and that he is “not cooperating with law enforcement”.
The district where the attack took place was again the scene of migrant violence earlier this week when a mass brawl broke out between Turks and Chechens outside of an internet cafe that led to a nearby bystander being pushed in front of a tram.