Austrian police raid dozens of ‘Islamist-linked’ targets

VIENNA AFP Nov9, 2020- Austrian police on Monday launched raids on more than 60 addresses allegedly linked to radical Islamists across four regions, with orders given for 30 suspects to be questioned, prosecutors said.   
The Styria region prosecutors’ office said it was “carrying out investigations against more than 70 suspects and against several associations which are suspected of belonging to and supporting the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas organisations”.   

It stressed in a statement that “the operation has no connection to the terror attack in Vienna of November 2” but was the result of “intensive and comprehensive investigations carried out for more than a year”.   

Last Monday’s attack by a jihadist gunman in Vienna’s historic city centre left four people dead.   It was the first major attack of its kind in Austria for decades and the first blamed on a jihadist.   

Among the alleged offences are forming a terrorist association, financing of terrorism and money laundering.