A planned terrorist attack on Vienna’s Westbahnhof was foiled by the police and the constitutional protection agency. A 14-year-old boy, who allegedly radicalized on the platform TikTok, was arrested on February 10, 2025, in Vienna’s Währing district. The suspect, of Turkish descent, had apparently planned attacks on the train station and police officers.
During a house search, investigators from the State Agency for the Protection of the Constitution and the Fight against Terrorism (LSE) and the WEGA (Vienna’s Emergency Group Alarm Department) found extensive evidence. The seized items included numerous Islamist books, hand-drawn sketches of terrorist attacks with knives and machetes and drawings of Islamic soldiers with the IS flag.
Especially alarming was a handwritten instruction on the production of explosive materials, which were intended to be used as a trigger for a bomb.
Furthermore, the investigators discovered in a cellar room of the suspect’s apartment aluminum tubes, armor tape and other materials that can be used for the construction of explosive devices. In a pocket, they found a combat knife and a flag with the Islamic creed – a banner that was also found with the perpetrator of the Villach attack.
The shocking fact: the youth was carrying a knife with him at the time of his arrest, which was additionally equipped with a saw blade.
The investigations originated from tips from the State Security and Intelligence Directorate (DSN), which discovered an Islamist propaganda TikTok profile. It was quickly possible to identify the suspect’s identity and to arrange for his arrest. However, during the interrogation, the 14-year-old refused to make a statement.
The Ministry of the Interior emphasizes that the dissemination of radical Islamic thought on the internet is a growing problem. More and more young people are being recruited for terrorist ideologies through social media and encrypted channels. Security agencies are confronted with the challenge of identifying and neutralizing these digital threats before they lead to actions.
This incident once again makes it clear how important a consistent monitoring of extremist content on the net and an early intervention by the security forces are. Experts warn that the radicalization of young people through digital platforms poses a growing risk to security – especially for young, easily influenced people.