Vienna - Austrian police appeared Monday to have foiled a bomb attack on the US embassy in Vienna when they arrested a man after he tried to enter the embassy with a backpack filled with explosives and nails. The suspect, a 42-year-old man with Bosnian background living outside Vienna, attempted to gain access to the embassy in Bolzmanngasse in Vienna's 9th district, Austrian police said.
But already at the entrance metal detectors went off. The man ran away and was pursued by police officers on duty protecting the embassy.
The suspect dropped the nylon backpack filled with two hand grenades, other explosives and nails, in a nearby street in the course of the pursuit, police spokeswoman Doris Edelbacher, of the anti-terrorism unit said.
Police were still investigating how effective the home made bomb would have been, but judging from the contents the effects would have been significant, police said.
The man arrested shortly afterwards. Police explosives experts dealt with the bag. The area around the site was sealed off for several hours.
A book with allegedly Islamic content was also found on the man, but further details were not immediately known.
Less than two weeks ago, three second-generation immigrants of Muslim background were arrested in Austria in connection with an Islamist threat video, warning Austria and Germany to withdraw forces from Afghanistan.
In the course of the investigation a list of Austrian politicians as potential targets of terrorist attacks also surfaced.
The US embassy had no immediate comment.
