Details have been revealed about the Islamic extremist who murdered five people outside a café in Vienna earlier this week. The attacker has been named as Fejzulal Kujtim a 20-year-old with prior convictions related to jihadism. Contrary to earlier reports the individual acted alone in terms of the attack itself, earlier news media had previously stated that multiple attackers had gone on the rampage. Kujtim was shot dead by Austrian police officers and had been wearing a fake explosive vest in the hope that it would deter security forces from approaching him.
The Austrian Interior Ministry has now revealed what they know about Kujtim. They state that in April 2019, he had been sentenced to 22 months in prison for attempting to go to Syria to join the Islamic State, ISIS. He was though paroled after just 7 months, being released in December 2019 after he convinced the authorities that he had renounced his beliefs and turned his life around. Claims that were obviously believed.
Kujtim was also reported by the Interior Ministry to be of Albanian descent, but had been born in Austria and had lived his entire life within the country. The Austrian newspaper ‘Falter’ also revealed photographs of the terrorist that he had posted on his Instagram and other social media accounts before the attack. In these pictures the bearded Kujtim can be seen brandishing weapons including a knife, a handgun and an AK-47 assault rifle. It is suspected that the rifle was used in the attack on Vienna. In a video he published online he can be seen pledging allegiance to ISIS.
Wide-scale raids and arrests have so far been carried out by the Austrian security services on those that may have had contact with Kujtim or who may have supplied him with weapons. As many as several hundred young Muslims are thought to have successfully travelled from Austria to Syria and Iraq during the existence of the so-called Islamic State. Many will have experienced combat and received training and then sought to return to Austria without being detected. This is a fear shared by security services across Europe.
While ISIS and Islamic extremist attacks have been on the wane over the last 2 years, in the last month alone there have been multiple attacks in France including, the beheading of a teacher who showed a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed in class, the shooting of a Greek orthodox priest in Lyon, and the stabbing to death of 3 people in Lyon.
There is also the Vienna attack carried out by Kujtim and attacks in Afghanistan on educational institutions that killed over 60 students, these have also been claimed by ISIS. This indicates that there is potentially a new generation, or regrouping of experienced jihadi fighters, now prepared to strike across the globe.
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