VIENNA (Reuters) – The scale of Austria’s intelligence failure before last week’s deadly jihadist attack in Vienna became clearer on Monday as the Interior Ministry confirmed the attacker had taken part in a large meeting in the summer that included Islamists from abroad.
Austria has acknowledged that “intolerable mistakes were made” in the handling of intelligence on the attacker, a convicted jihadist, who killed four people in a shooting rampage in the city centre last Monday.
It has previously confirmed that the gunman had tried to buy ammunition in Slovakia and had met people from Germany who were under observation.
Swiss Sunday newspaper NZZ am Sonntag said two men arrested in Switzerland in connection with the attack had travelled to Vienna between July 16 and July 20 to meet the attacker, citing two sources.
“A meeting took place in Vienna among the people (you) addressed from Germany and Switzerland but there were also people present at the meeting with the later assailant who were arrested in the context of the investigation,” Director General for Public Security Franz Ruf told a news conference when asked about the reported July meeting.
“It was a larger circle of people that met. Some spent the night, the rest then left,” he added.
The head of Austria’s main domestic intelligence agency for the city of Vienna has stepped down pending an investigation into what went wrong.
Austrian intelligence is “traditionally weak and must be strengthened” as part of an ongoing overhaul, Ruf said.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Additional reporting by Michael Shields in Zurich; Editing by Gareth Jones)
