NEWS BRIEFS: Austrian Authorities Fumbled Warning Before Islamist Murderer Stunned Vienna

“We are seeing a fault line in our system. There was a premature release of a radicalized person,” Nehammer said, according to The Guardian, which reported that the director of Derad, Moussa al-Hassan Diaw, has rejected reports that his program had declared the Vienna attacker safe, saying “Until a deradicalization program is stopped completely, there is always an element of risk.” Vienna police said on Twitter authorities had raided 18 houses and had made 14 arrests, “aged 16-28 with a migrant background”, in connection to the attack. Swiss police arrested two others who allegedly had personally met with Fejzulai.

Meanwhile police in Slovakia revealed they had tipped off Austrian authorities about “suspects from Austria “trying to buy ammunition for a Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle in July, who were refused due to having no licence. Nehammer said the information had been investigated by the BVT domestic intelligence agency but no further action had been taken, admitting “Something obviously went wrong in communication.”

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz insisted the European Union must “focus much more strongly on the problem of political Islam in the future”. He said he had spoken to France’s Emmanuel Macron and many others to coordinate those efforts. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he spoken to Kurz and told him: “The people of Israel stand with Austria… against the savagery of Islamist terrorism. We are cooperating in every way, with our intelligence and every other way we can.”

Macron declares France “won’t surrender anything” to Islamic terror

At least six people have been arrested as the investigation into the murder of three French nationals at a church in Nice continues. President Macron labeled it as an “Islamist terrorist attack”, and deployed 4000 troops to protect schools and churches. He declared, “If we are attacked once again it is for the values which are ours: freedom, for the possibility on our soil to believe freely and not to give in to any spirit of terror…  I say it with great clarity once again today: we won’t surrender anything.”

Surveillance cameras tracked 21 year old Brahim Aouissaoui, as he traveled by train from Rome on Oct 27, and was seen near the targeted Notre Dame Basilica prior to his attack on the morning of October 29 that left the church sexton, a worshipper who was decapitated, and another woman dead. He was shot and wounded by police, who have yet to interrogate him in hospital. A large knife was used to butcher the Catholic victims and he was found with two more knives and a Qur’an in a backpack.

Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi warned of “Islamo-fascism” and said the suspect had “repeated endlessly ‘Allahu Akbar'”. Four years ago, Nice was the scene of a gruesome terrorist attack when a Tunisian drove a truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day, killing 86 people.