The president of the Austrian Islamic Community (IGGiÖ), Fuat Sanac, says he is surprised and appalled about the nine suspected jihadists who were arrested in Austria on the weekend.
In an interview with the Austrian national Ö1 radio on Sunday, quoted by the Austrian ÖRF television teletext, Sanac said he was shocked that, according to the interior ministry, another 130 jihadists lived in Austria. The number seemed too high, he said. He would not have assumed that there were more than five.
The IGGiÖ president also said he condemned the atrocities committed by the Islamic State (Isis) jihadist group. “That has nothing to do with Islam,” he said.
The Islamic Community said that it feared the number of attacks on Muslims in Austria was increasing. On Thursday last week, an 84-year-old woman wearing a hijab was injured by a man in his thirties. The IGGiÖ said that the man, who swore at the woman in a Viennese dialect, kicked her over and knocked another woman down. The police were still looking for the man on the weekend. The 84-year-old was taken to hospital.