According to a recent report, supporters of the Islamic State met regularly in a prayer room at a hospital in Lower Austria, where they exchanged information, shared ISIS propaganda materials, and recruited for the jihad in Syria. The alleged conspirators are now in investigative custody.

Many thanks to Egri Nök for translating this article from Kronen Zeitung:

Praising ISIS

Lower Austria: Prayer room in a hospital meeting point for jihadis

March 17 2017

The Islamic prayer room in the university hospital of St. Pölten allegedly served as a meeting point for ISIS sympathizers on a regular basis. Three times per week, ISIS and the Jihad in Syria were advertised there. The group of terror suspects recently arrested in St. Pölten allegedly met there, too.

According to a Kurier report on Friday, there were also criminal plots hatched in the room, for example for robbing a weapons store. Karl Wurzer, a spokesman the State Prosecutor, can only verify that the suspects met and communicated with each other. The leader of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Roland Scherscher, says that they are “not pleased that information which endangers the investigations is being published.”

“Dozens of relevant Salafist books”

On March 6 five suspects were arrested. Four of them, along with a young man who was arrested the week after, are in investigative custody. Several digital media devices were secured during house searches, and, according to the daily newspaper, also “dozens of relevant Salafist books”.

19-year-old threatened “Infidels”

According to the report, at the beginning of the year there were indicators concerning a 19-year-old who was being increasingly radicalized, and who, along with two Chechens and one Macedonian, among others, made appearances at proselytizing missions on the street. The young man, who allegedly also threatened an “infidel” colleague, drew attention in a training center, which informed the police. In a WhatsApp group, the suspects allegedly exchanged photos from the terror militia, the report continues.