Ankara: The recent terrorist attack in Vienna that killed four people proved to the world that the threat of Daesh still haunts Europe. The surprising thing, however, was the fact that the attacker was handed to Austrian authorities by Turkey, only to be released shortly after, showing the incapability of European states to subdue foreign fighters.
At least four people were killed and 22 more were wounded in a terrorist attack in the Austrian capital, an official said Tuesday.
Speaking at a news conference in Vienna, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said the assailant, who was killed in a police operation last night after the attack, was a sympathizer of the Daesh terrorist group. Daesh also declared later that it was responsible for the attack.
“We have not yet found any evidence indicating a second attacker,” he said, adding that the investigation was still ongoing.
The attack received widespread condemnation from all corners of the globe, including Turkey, which expressed that it stood in “solidarity” with the Austrian people and was waging its own campaign against terrorism.
“We are saddened to receive the news that there are dead and wounded as a result of the terrorist attack that took place in Vienna,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“As a country that has been fighting against all sorts of terrorism for decades, Turkey stands in solidarity with the Austrian people.”
In fact, Turkey already showed its support for Austria’s fight against terrorism back in 2018, when it captured and deported the attacker to Austria in a series of efforts that appear to have been in vain.
Austrian authorities have confirmed that the 20-year-old assailant was known to police as he was arrested last year for attempting to travel to Syria to join Daesh. Local media identified him as Kujtim Fejzulai who had both North Macedonian and Austrian citizenship. He was released from jail in December due to his young age. Austrian police arrested 14 suspects on Tuesday after raiding more than a dozen locations across the country.
Fejzulai was radicalized in 2016, he told the court. He and his friend first tried to travel to Kabul, but the plan failed when they found out that they lacked the necessary entry visa. In September 2018, Fejzulai left Austria alone and went to Turkey in hopes of joining Daesh fighters in neighboring Syria. Two days after his arrival in Turkey, Fejzulai was arrested, detained and eventually sent back to Austria. Fejzulai was convicted and sentenced in April last year but was already released on probation in December. He had reportedly received counseling from a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that specializes in deradicalizing extremists.
Paris, Brussels attackers also deported by Turkey
But this is not the first time that European states failed in handling foreign fighters who were successfully deported by Turkey.
In 2016, Turkey announced that one of the attackers in the Brussels suicide bombings was deported in 2015 from Turkey, and Belgium subsequently ignored a warning that the man was a militant.
Back then, Turkish authorities identified the man as Ibrahim El Bakraoui, one of the two brothers named by Belgium as responsible for the attacks that killed at least 31 people in Brussels in 2016 and were claimed by Daesh. –Agencies
