Austrian terror suspect 'planned to bomb Ramstein Air Base'
A 17-year-old suspected Islamic extremist who was arrested in Vienna planned to set off a pipe bomb near Ramstein Air Base in Germany but changed his mind because he didn’t want to “kill so many people,” according to a report in the weekly newspaper Falter.
The teenager, identified only as Lorenz K., reportedly told police of the plan after he was arrested in Vienna on January 20th.
Falter said it had obtained a transcript of the youth’s questioning. Austria’s Interior Ministry and German police have refused to comment on the report.
According to Falter Lorenz K. told police he planned to place the bomb under a rubbish bin near Ramstein, the largest US air base overseas, in December.
“That is what I planned to do. But I did not have the heart to do it,” he was quoted as saying. “I could not … really kill so many people.”
Austrian authorities arrested Lorenz K. after receiving intelligence that he may have been planning a bomb attack in Vienna. The next day a 21-year-old man was arrested in the western German city of Neuss. Media reports said that he and Lorenz K. had experimented together with making explosives in Germany.
Lorenz K., an Austrian citizen who was born and raised in Austria, told investigators that he supported the extremist Islamic State group. The interior ministry said that he admitted to having built an experimental bomb using instructions that he found online - but that no bomb-making equipment was found at his flat.
According to Falter, it’s believed Lorenz K. was radicalized while spending time in prison in 2015 for a variety of offences. He told investigators that while he was on probation he contacted a member of the Islamic State group via Facebook.
Rather than fighting for the Islamic State in Syria he said that he “wanted to do something in Europe. I hate the German military because they participate in fights against Muslims.”
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The teenager, identified only as Lorenz K., reportedly told police of the plan after he was arrested in Vienna on January 20th.
Falter said it had obtained a transcript of the youth’s questioning. Austria’s Interior Ministry and German police have refused to comment on the report.
According to Falter Lorenz K. told police he planned to place the bomb under a rubbish bin near Ramstein, the largest US air base overseas, in December.
“That is what I planned to do. But I did not have the heart to do it,” he was quoted as saying. “I could not … really kill so many people.”
Austrian authorities arrested Lorenz K. after receiving intelligence that he may have been planning a bomb attack in Vienna. The next day a 21-year-old man was arrested in the western German city of Neuss. Media reports said that he and Lorenz K. had experimented together with making explosives in Germany.
Lorenz K., an Austrian citizen who was born and raised in Austria, told investigators that he supported the extremist Islamic State group. The interior ministry said that he admitted to having built an experimental bomb using instructions that he found online - but that no bomb-making equipment was found at his flat.
According to Falter, it’s believed Lorenz K. was radicalized while spending time in prison in 2015 for a variety of offences. He told investigators that while he was on probation he contacted a member of the Islamic State group via Facebook.
Rather than fighting for the Islamic State in Syria he said that he “wanted to do something in Europe. I hate the German military because they participate in fights against Muslims.”
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