An alleged Islamic hate preacher has been arrested over claims he is the terror mastermind who recruited the two Austrian jihad 'poster girls' and more than 160 others who joined ISIS.
Samra Kesinovic, 17, and Sabina Selimovic, 16, became radicalised through the cell led by unemployed benefits claimant Ebu Tejma, 33, who lived with his pregnant wife and five children in a council flat in Vienna, Austria.
It was stuffed with jewellery, cash and savings books worth a fortune when it was stormed by Austria's elite heavily-armed police special forces team WEGA.
Poster girls: Samra Kesinovic, 17, and Sabina Selimovic, 16, became radicalised through the cell led by unemployed benefits claimant Ebu Tejma.
A picture believed to show Sabina Selimovic, 15, with jihadi fighters in Syria: An interview given by the Austrian teenager saying how she feels 'she can really be free' among the extremists may have been given at gunpoint. It is claimed they now want to return home - but it is too late
Is it too late? The article doesn't explain why although we can guess. Nevertheless, it's criminal to see these silly, young girls stuck in a life they really had little clue was about. Let's pray that they find a way to get home and are not sent to prison for long sentences.
The valuables had all been provided by Muslims radicalised by the preacher and his cronies in a network that reportedly extended across the country and into the rest of Europe.
His arrest has been seen as a major blow against the terrorist group's activities.
According to security forces, Ebu Tejma, whose real name is Mirsad Omerovic, not only recruited the two girls that became the public face of jihad - but was also involved in a further 166 defections of European youngsters to fight in holy war.
A still image from a video provided by SITE Intelligence Group and distributed by the Sahara division of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), shows what appears to be French captive Serge Lazarevic on November 17, 2014
Security service insiders claim that he was not only one of 200 leading jihadists, but was also one of the leaders of the so called 'Bosnian cell' based in the Meidling district of Vienna that was 'one of the most important logistic and financial support centres for jihadist activities in Europe', according to a 'Vecernje novosti', a local newspaper in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Austria has been concerned for years over fears that the country was becoming a hub for terrorist activities after inviting thousands of Muslim refugees into the country during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
The moved provided a fertile breeding ground for Ebu Tejma and his network. The influential Austrian newspaper the Krone, claimed that 'there was scarcely a single recruit in Europe for Jihad in which he and his group were not involved'.
Originally from the small Serbian town of Tutin, Tejma was known in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a preacher of hatred and intolerance, who very soon found himself allied with the extreme form of Islam known as Wahabism.
According to Austrian anti-terrorism authorities, Tejma appeared on their radar more than three years ago, when he began uploading videos onto his YouTube channel.
Although officially unemployed, he was observed driving expensive fast cars. For the past two years, intelligence officials have been tapping his communications, monitoring his phone calls and building up a picture of his network - which then prompted the arrests on Friday November 28.
One of those connections is allegedly a direct line to the caliph of ISIS terrorism, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Investigators saw a constant stream of Salafist Muslims while monitoring the Altun Alem mosque during their operation on Tejma.
Salafism is the fastest-growing Islamic movement in the world. It is rooted in the 19th century where it emerged as a way of combating the spread of European ideas and values.
But in recent years, it has come to be associated with the jihad of extremist groups that advocate the killing of innocent civilians.
Security services recorded a constant stream of Salafist preachers, often accompanied by Mujahedin fighters travelling up from Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the mosque and the imam has been appearing in online videos revealing that it is every Muslim's duty to join jihad if an Islamic state is under attack from non-believers.
It is not even necessary to ask parents for permission, because even that normally essential parental duty takes second place to the duty to fight.
This is exactly what happened in the case of Samra and Sabina, who left only a note for their worried parents.
It was at underground mosques like these that the teenage girls were recruited and the signs were there that they were in danger even before they fled.
Messages painted on the walls at school urging fellow believers to follow the call to jihad were traced back to the girls.
Nobody heeded that warning until their parents discovered the notes in their bedrooms. 'Don't look for us, we have gone to fight in the holy war.'
Meanwhile, Samra and Sabina attended Tejma's sermons - in which he said it was a woman's duty to support men fighting jihad. Tejma would even approach fathers attending Friday prayers to tell them that he had many contacts looking for wives.
Samra and Sabina were radicalised within a few short months and travelled to Syria to marry jihadists. Both girls have now revealed they made a mistake, and desperately want to return home. But they are married already, and also both reportedly pregnant, so the chances of ever returning home or indeed seeing their parents seem remote.
Tejma and 12 others were picked up in the raids involving hundreds of officers. They have been remanded in custody for a further two weeks while the investigations continue.
According to state prosecutor Hansjoerg Bacher, the charges they are being investigated over are on suspicion of membership of a terrorist organisation, in 'connection with the recruiting of young people for the civil war in Syria'.
The lawyer for Tejma denies all the charges while police and prosecutors sift through the evidence, and begin questioning his associates.
Publicly they say they have struck a major blow against a likely terrorist network - but the arresting officers are clearly worried that there may be others at large.
Samra Kesinovic, 17, and Sabina Selimovic, 16, became radicalised through the cell led by unemployed benefits claimant Ebu Tejma, 33, who lived with his pregnant wife and five children in a council flat in Vienna, Austria.
It was stuffed with jewellery, cash and savings books worth a fortune when it was stormed by Austria's elite heavily-armed police special forces team WEGA.
 |
| Samra Kesinovic, 17, and Sabina Selimovic, 16 |
Is it too late? The article doesn't explain why although we can guess. Nevertheless, it's criminal to see these silly, young girls stuck in a life they really had little clue was about. Let's pray that they find a way to get home and are not sent to prison for long sentences.
The valuables had all been provided by Muslims radicalised by the preacher and his cronies in a network that reportedly extended across the country and into the rest of Europe.
His arrest has been seen as a major blow against the terrorist group's activities.
According to security forces, Ebu Tejma, whose real name is Mirsad Omerovic, not only recruited the two girls that became the public face of jihad - but was also involved in a further 166 defections of European youngsters to fight in holy war.
A still image from a video provided by SITE Intelligence Group and distributed by the Sahara division of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), shows what appears to be French captive Serge Lazarevic on November 17, 2014
Security service insiders claim that he was not only one of 200 leading jihadists, but was also one of the leaders of the so called 'Bosnian cell' based in the Meidling district of Vienna that was 'one of the most important logistic and financial support centres for jihadist activities in Europe', according to a 'Vecernje novosti', a local newspaper in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Austria has been concerned for years over fears that the country was becoming a hub for terrorist activities after inviting thousands of Muslim refugees into the country during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
The moved provided a fertile breeding ground for Ebu Tejma and his network. The influential Austrian newspaper the Krone, claimed that 'there was scarcely a single recruit in Europe for Jihad in which he and his group were not involved'.
 |
| Ebu Tejma Hate preacher: Tejma would approach fathers at Friday prayers and tell them it was their duty to provide wives for fighters in Iraq & Syria, it is claimed |
According to Austrian anti-terrorism authorities, Tejma appeared on their radar more than three years ago, when he began uploading videos onto his YouTube channel.
Although officially unemployed, he was observed driving expensive fast cars. For the past two years, intelligence officials have been tapping his communications, monitoring his phone calls and building up a picture of his network - which then prompted the arrests on Friday November 28.
One of those connections is allegedly a direct line to the caliph of ISIS terrorism, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
 |
| Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. |
Salafism is the fastest-growing Islamic movement in the world. It is rooted in the 19th century where it emerged as a way of combating the spread of European ideas and values.
But in recent years, it has come to be associated with the jihad of extremist groups that advocate the killing of innocent civilians.
Security services recorded a constant stream of Salafist preachers, often accompanied by Mujahedin fighters travelling up from Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the mosque and the imam has been appearing in online videos revealing that it is every Muslim's duty to join jihad if an Islamic state is under attack from non-believers.
It is not even necessary to ask parents for permission, because even that normally essential parental duty takes second place to the duty to fight.
This is exactly what happened in the case of Samra and Sabina, who left only a note for their worried parents.
It was at underground mosques like these that the teenage girls were recruited and the signs were there that they were in danger even before they fled.
Messages painted on the walls at school urging fellow believers to follow the call to jihad were traced back to the girls.
Nobody heeded that warning until their parents discovered the notes in their bedrooms. 'Don't look for us, we have gone to fight in the holy war.'
 | |
| Vanished: The girls disappeared one day and just left notes to their parents in their bedrooms. 'Don't look for us, we have gone to fight in the holy war', they read. Jihadi brides: The two girls in their new life in a pic posted online. They attended sermons given by Tejma. |
Samra and Sabina were radicalised within a few short months and travelled to Syria to marry jihadists. Both girls have now revealed they made a mistake, and desperately want to return home. But they are married already, and also both reportedly pregnant, so the chances of ever returning home or indeed seeing their parents seem remote.
Tejma and 12 others were picked up in the raids involving hundreds of officers. They have been remanded in custody for a further two weeks while the investigations continue.
According to state prosecutor Hansjoerg Bacher, the charges they are being investigated over are on suspicion of membership of a terrorist organisation, in 'connection with the recruiting of young people for the civil war in Syria'.
The lawyer for Tejma denies all the charges while police and prosecutors sift through the evidence, and begin questioning his associates.
Publicly they say they have struck a major blow against a likely terrorist network - but the arresting officers are clearly worried that there may be others at large.
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