Austria Nabs Three with al Qaeda Links

Rolling them up all over the continent now.

Austria says arrests three with al Qaeda links

Austria has arrested three people with links to al Qaeda who posted a video message on the Internet to make threats against the country, Austrian Interior Minister Guenther Platter said on Wednesday.

The arrests had to do with a group calling itself Voice of the Caliphate that posted a video message in March on an Islamist Web site used by militants, although Platter said there was no concrete indication attacks were planned in Austria.

"Austria was not under threat of an attack at any time," Platter told a news conference, declining to elaborate.

The arrests came a week after Germany said it foiled an Islamist militant plan to carry out "massive bomb attacks" on U.S. installations in the country. Germany arrested three men.

Platter said the suspects detained in Austria were a 20-year-old man and his 21-year-old wife and another man of 26. He said they were second generation immigrants from Arab countries and held Austrian passports.

In the March video message against Germany and Austria, the group had called on Germany and Austria to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan to prevent attacks on the two countries.

A speaker in the video said Austria, relying on tourism for an important part of its revenue, would be damaged if it were targeted by militants and asked why Germany would risk its economic interest for the sake of U.S. President George W. Bush.

UPDATE: More from The Jawa Report, via LGF.