Vienna, 11 December 2023 (dpa/MIA) - A teenager has been arrested in Austria for allegedly expressing interest in attacking an unspecified synagogue in Vienna, a top security official said on Monday.

Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, Austria's domestic intelligence chief, said the threat had been made in chat messages.

The Austrian, 16, is from the province of Upper Austria. He has been remanded in custody.

No concrete plan or date for the attack had been set, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office in Steyr, Upper Austria, told dpa.

There is no information so far about possible accomplices or the involvement of a terrorist group, she said.

Haijawi-Pirchner said the teen had already procured money in order to obtain a weapon.

In November 2020, an Islamist shot dead four people near a synagogue in a Viennese nightlife district. Twenty people were injured. The perpetrator was killed by the police on the night of the attack. Four of his accomplices were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Photo: MIA archive