Attack at US embassy in Vienna thwarted
The Associated Press - October 1, 2007
By WILLIAM J. KOLE
VIENNA, Austria - A Bosnian who tried to enter the U.S. Embassy in Vienna with a
backpack filled with explosives, nails and Islamic literature was arrested
Monday after the bag set off a metal detector and the man fled on foot,
authorities said.
Police sealed off the neighborhood as a precaution and shut down or rerouted
nearby bus and tram lines. Officers patrolled the area with bomb-sniffing dogs.
The suspect was described only as a 42-year-old native of Bosnia-Herzegovina who
now lives in the province of Lower Austria, which encircles most of the capital.
Police said they made the arrest a short distance from the embassy building in a
neighborhood where security is tight.
Vienna police spokeswoman Michaela Raz said explosives experts were examining
the contents of the backpack.
"There were a lot of nails in that bag. Had it exploded, it would have had an
enormous shrapnel effect," said Doris Edelbacher, of Austria's federal
counterterrorism office.
The explosives resembled hand grenades, she told reporters, but that munitions
experts were still working to determine whether the device had been properly
rigged to explode.
The suspect spoke broken German and appeared to ramble during an initial
interrogation, Edelbacher said.
It was unclear how far he made it into the embassy. Public broadcaster ORF,
citing unidentified officials, reported that a metal detector sounded an alarm
as the man was passing through security checks and that he fled immediately.
The nature of the Islamic material he allegedly was carrying also was unclear.
Embassy officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Last month, authorities arrested three people — all Austrian citizens of Arab
origin in their 20s — in connection with a video posted online in March that had
threatened Austria and Germany with attacks if they did not withdraw their
military personnel from Afghanistan.
One of the suspects was released several days later for lack of evidence.
On Friday, the Interior Ministry said it found a list of politicians circulating
online as potential targets for attacks. The individuals were notified, but
authorities said there were no indications that any of them were ever in danger.
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