Check out all of our posts on “welcoming” Austria as it grew its Muslim population in recent years. And, see our post yesterday on rates of Islamic radicalization in other European countries.
From Reuters:
(Reuters) – Authorities suspect around 130 people resident in Austria – most of them foreign nationals – have allied themselves with Islamist militants fighting abroad, officials in Vienna said on Friday, raising their estimate by nearly a third.
Public safety director Konrad Kogler told a news conference the 130 figure included “people actively participating in combat as well as ones who have returned to Austria, because both groups of people are relevant for us”.
He thought around two-thirds of them had come back to Austria and one-third were in battle or on the way there.
Officials were tracking the target group’s foreign travel and monitoring their activities when they return given the security risk they might pose, he said.
He said 40 of the 130 were Austrian citizens. The others were primarily from Russia, the Balkans and Turkey.
[….]
Kogler did not confirm reports that the nine suspects – one aged just 17 – were Chechens, but said many were Russian citizens.
The suspects had mostly come to Austria as young people and got political asylum that could be revoked should they be convicted of joining a terrorist organization, officials said.
Big deal! I am sure those budding Jihadists are concerned about the revocation of their political refugee status!
