Austrian Police Arrest Man Who Tried To Enter U.S. Embassy With Explosives
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VIENNA, Austria — A Bosnian who tried to enter the American Embassy in Vienna with a backpack filled with explosives, nails, and Islamic literature was arrested yesterday after the bag set off a metal detector and the man fled on foot, authorities said.
Police sealed off the neighborhood as a precaution and shut down or rerouted nearby bus and tram lines.
The suspect was described only as a 42-year-old native of Bosnia-Herzegovina who now lives in the province of Lower Austria, which encircles most of the capital. Police said they made the arrest a short distance from the embassy in a neighborhood where security is tight. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear. Vienna police spokeswoman Michaela Raz said explosives experts were examining the contents of the backpack.
Rather than blow up the backpack in a controlled explosion, a police bomb squad used a water cannon to partially tear it open so the contents could be preserved and examined, officials said.
“There were a lot of nails in that bag. Had it exploded, it would have had an enormous shrapnel effect,” said Doris Edelbacher, of Austria’s federal counterterrorism office. She said the bag also contained at least two hand grenades.