A large police operation was conducted early Wednesday in Ternitz, a town of about 15,000 people in the Neunkirchen district of Lower Austria, according to the Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard and The Associated Press.
A man was taken into custody, and special forces conducted a search of his home spanning several hours, police spokesman Johann Baumschlager told the newspaper. He added that several nearby houses and a section of a retirement home needed to be evacuated, and some roads were closed as a result. Investigators are analyzing several chemical substances seized at the suspect’s home.
Investigators believe one of the suspects had become radicalized online and had sworn an oath of allegiance to the current leader of the Islamic State (ISIS), Der Standard reported.