Ukraine in Arabic | 13 suspected jihadi recruiters arrested in Austria

28.11.2014 - 17:05 #IS, #Austria, #police, #Syria, #Arrest, #jihadi

Hundreds of European Muslims are known to have travelled to Syria to join jihadist groups such as Islamic State.

KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ Police in Austria have arrested 13 people suspected of radicalising young people and recruiting them to fight in Syria, prosecutors say.

Reports in the Austrian media said 500 police were involved in searches at mosques, flats and prayer rooms in Vienna and the cities of Linz and Graz.

Some 20 arrest warrants were also issued, but it remained unclear if anyone had yet been taken in.

A Bosnian preacher was reportedly the main suspect.

Beyond recruiting fighters, the daily Kronen Zeitung said that the suspects were investigated for helping to finance the Islamic State group.

Officials sources contacted by AFP neither confirmed nor denied that the raid was underway. A press conference was scheduled for later Friday, said the prosecutors' office, which is coordinating the operation.

Some 150 people have so far left Austria to join jihadists in Syria and Iraq, or have been stopped while trying to do so, according to the interior ministry.

The case of two Austrian teenage girls who left for Syria in April, telling their parents that they wanted to “fight for Islam” there, especially grabbed headlines here.

alarabiya.net