A 14-year-old boy suspected of planning a series of bombings in Vienna was reported yesterday to have been offered US$25,000 ($31,950) by Islamic State (Isis) to carry out the attacks and claims that two other youths recruited in the same way remain at large.
The arrested youth has not beennamed by authorities, but has been identified by the Austrian media as Mertkan G, the son of Turkish immigrants, who has lived in the country for eight years. He was arrested on Tuesday but details are only now emerging about his case.
Among the sites in which he has admitted planning to plant explosives is Vienna's Westbahnhof station, one of the busiest in the country, used by 40,000 travellers each day.
Austrian officials have refused to comment on reports that he was recruited over the internet by Isis and promised a payment for carrying out the bombings. But a spokesman for prosecutors said that the 14-year-old was in touch with "various different contacts".
He had confessed to planning to plant a series of bombs in crowded areas around Vienna, said Michaela Obenaus, a spokesman for the prosecutors' office in the boy's home city of St Polten.
Despite his youth, he reportedly reconnoitred potential target sites "like a professional". He is not believed to have built any bombs by the time of his arrest, but he had researched bomb-making extensively on the internet, and made specific inquiries about purchasing certain parts.
The Austrian authorities have spoken only of "unconventional explosive devices", but, according to local media reports, he was planning to build improvised cluster bombs similar to those used in the 2013 Boston marathon bombings.
It appears he was not planning a suicide attack: he has reportedly confessed that he wanted to travel to Syria to fight alongside jihadist groups there, and saw a successful bombing campaign as his ticket to join. A report in Kronen Zeitung newspaper claimed he was actively recruited over the internet by Isis and promised a "special position" as a reward for carrying out the bombings, as well as the payment of US$25,000. The newspaper claimed two other youths were recruited to carry out attacks in similar fashion and remained at large.
But other local newspapers reported that Austrian investigators believed Mertkan G may have been a so-called "lone wolf", working entirely on his own. The boy, who lived with his parents in St Polten, a small city not far from Vienna, was known locally for speaking out in favour of Isis and other jihadist groups, but the reports said his friends did not take him seriously.
