DHAKA: Austrian police have arrested 13 people suspected of radicalizing young people and recruiting them to fight in Syria.

The prosecutors said this which reports BBC on Friday.

Reports in the Austrian media said 500 police were involved in searches at mosques, flats and prayer rooms in Vienna and the cities of Linz and Graz.

Authorities also seized ‘terrorist propaganda material’, rosecutors said.

It comes amid a European crackdown on fighters who have joined jihadist forces in Syria and Iraq.

A statement from Austria’s state prosecutor’s office said 16 people had been questioned following the searches in the early hours of Friday.

The 13 suspects had been arrested on suspicion of membership of a terrorist organization.

Local media said a Bosnian preacher, who was the main suspect, was among those held.

The officers also seized electronic material, cash and a brass knuckles, according to reports.

Hundreds of European Muslims are known to have travelled to Syria to join jihadist groups such as Islamic State fighting in the country’s civil war.

BDST: 1829 HRS, NOV 28, 2014