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- Austrian police are searching for a gunman linked to an attack in Vienna.
- Six attacks resulted in the death of two people.
- People were urged to stay in their homes.
A massive manhunt took place on Tuesday after gunmen opened fire at various locations in central Vienna, killing at least two people and wounding several more in what Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz describes as a “repulsive terrorist attack. “.
One of the gunmen was shot dead by police who said they were looking for at least one more assailant who was still at large.
READ | Several wounded by gunshots in Vienna; reports one dead, synagogue attacked
The attacks, in six locations, including near a synagogue in the city center, were carried out by “several suspects armed with rifles,” police said Monday night.
The shooting started just hours before Austria reimposed a coronavirus lockdown, with people in bars and restaurants enjoying one last night of relative freedom.
Police initially said one person had been killed by the gunman, and the public broadcaster ORF described them as passersby.
Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig later told ORF that a second person had died from his injuries and that 15 people had been taken to hospital, seven of them seriously injured.
‘An attacker who is still on the run’
Police said an officer was also injured during the attacks.
Police stand guard near Schwedenplatz after a shooting in central Vienna.
The attacks began around 20:00 (19:00 GMT) when the first shots were heard in the city’s first downtown district.
At a press conference early Tuesday morning, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said: “From what we currently know, there is at least one attacker who is still on the run.”
It was unclear how many assailants were involved in the assault.
Speaking to the ORF, Austrian leader Kurz said the attackers “were very well equipped with automatic weapons” and had “prepared professionally”.
Earlier, he tweeted: “Our police will act decisively against the perpetrators of this repulsive terrorist attack,” adding that “we will never be intimidated by terrorism and will combat this attack with all means.”
Kurz said that while the police focus on the counterterrorism operation, the army will take over the security of the main buildings in Vienna.
Nehammer urged Vienna residents to stay in their homes and stay away from all public places or public transportation. He said the children are not expected to go to school on Tuesday.
Sirens and helicopters could be heard in the city center as emergency services responded to the attack.
An AFP photographer said a large number of police officers were guarding an area near the city’s famous opera house.
The site of the initial shooting was near a major synagogue.
objective
The president of the Vienna Jewish community, Oskar Deutsch, said that shots had been fired “in the immediate vicinity” of the Stadttempel synagogue, but added that it is currently unknown whether the temple, closed at the time, had been the target of an attack.
“It sounded like firecrackers, then we realized it was gunshots,” said a witness quoted by ORF.
A shooter had “fired savagely with an automatic weapon” before police arrived and opened fire, the witness added.
In crowded bars and restaurants, people were told to stay indoors.
“At first, I thought to myself that maybe we were making an American movie or had too much to drink,” said bartender Jimmy Eroglu, 42.
But then he heard gunshots. “The police came in and said, ‘Everyone should stay inside because there is probably a dead man there.’
Robert Schneider, who lives in the center of Vienna, came out and found two lasers pointed at his chest.
“Hands up, take off your jacket,” the officers yelled at him, the 39-year-old said. “We hadn’t seen anything, we hadn’t heard anything. We are in shock.”
Austria had so far been spared the kind of big attacks that have hit other European countries.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has suffered two serious attacks in recent weeks, tweeted that “we French share the shock and pain of the Austrian people.”
“After France, it is a friendly nation that has been attacked,” he added, referring to the murder on Thursday of three people by an attacker in the southern city of Nice and the beheading of a school teacher by a suspected Islamist on the outskirts of Paris several days before. .
The head of the EU Council, Charles Michel, tweeted that the bloc “strongly condemns this cowardly act”, and European and world leaders also expressed their support for Austria.
The Czech police said they were carrying out checks on the Austrian border.
“The police are carrying out random checks of vehicles and passengers at the border crossings with Austria as a preventive measure in relation to the terrorist attack in Vienna,” the Czech police tweeted.
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