Austrian investigators were rebuilding Monday night’s uproar in central Vienna by a lone gunman and later claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group on Tuesday, while Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called for a European response to “political Islam.”
Four people were killed when Kujtim Fejzulai, described as a 20-year-old IS sympathizer who had spent time in prison, opened fire with a Kalashnikov in a crowded area of the Austrian capital the day before the country entered a new blockade for coronavirus.
IS, which has claimed numerous attacks in Europe, said on Tuesday that a “caliphate soldier” was responsible for the carnage, according to its propaganda agency.
Police shot dead the gunman on Monday and then swooped in 18 different directions and made 14 arrests as they searched for possible accomplices and tried to determine if he had acted alone.
After reviewing CCTV footage of the attack in an area with bars and restaurants not far from the historic sights of central Vienna, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said the video “at this time does not show any evidence of a second attacker. “
Vienna police asked people who filmed the time of the attack to share their recordings with authorities to help trace the gunman’s route through the capital, rather than posting them on social media.
On Fejzulai’s computer, investigators found incriminating evidence, including a photograph recently posted on Facebook showing him carrying the automatic weapon and a machete used during the attack.
Police said he was also wearing a fake explosive belt.
– ‘Repulsive’ attack –
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz condemned the shooting as a “repulsive terrorist attack”, which he said killed a waitress, a young passerby and an older man and woman.
He called on the European Union to fight “political Islam” saying it was an ideology that represented a “danger” to the European lifestyle model, in an interview published in the German daily Die Welt.
His government will face questions about how an individual known to security forces was able to purchase weapons and wreak havoc on the streets of the generally peaceful capital, often billed as having the best quality of life in the world.
The investigation spans several countries, with Switzerland making two arrests and Macedonia, where Fejzulai has family roots, cooperating with Austrian authorities.
The attack came after several Islamist atrocities in France, including an assault on parishioners in the Mediterranean city of Nice and the beheading of a school teacher near Paris.
The recent reissue of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in France has sparked new tensions around the world, sparking protests in some Muslim-majority countries and calls by various terrorist groups for their followers to take revenge.
Britain on Tuesday raised its terror threat level from “substantial” to “severe.”
– ‘I cheated on the system’ –
Nehammer said that Fejzulai had been convicted and imprisoned for a terrorism offense in April last year for attempting to travel to Syria.
The Austrian and Macedonian dual national had been admitted to a government-funded de-radicalization program and had managed to obtain an early release in December from a 22-month prison sentence.
“The perpetrator managed to fool the justice system de-radicalization program, fool the people in it, and get an early release,” Nehammer said.
“It was clear that the attacker, despite all the external signs of having integrated into society, did exactly the opposite.”
A large part of downtown Vienna was cordoned off around the shooting site as police combed the area.
“They sounded like firecrackers, then we realized they were gunshots,” a witness told public broadcaster ORF after the attack began. Another spoke of at least 50 shots.
– ‘Shock and pain’ –
The small Alpine nation of nine million people has so far been spared the kinds of major attacks that have hit other European countries like France, Germany and Britain in the last decade.
The last significant attacks date back to the 1970s and 1980s and were carried out by pro-Palestinian militants.
“This is not Berlin and this is not Paris. We may be a big city, but nothing really bad ever happens here, ”said hotel receptionist Sharut Gunduz.
The bloodshed sparked an outpouring of solidarity from world leaders with French President Emmanuel Macron, who said the people of France shared the “shock and pain” of the Austrian people.
Across the country, flags were lowered at half mast in public buildings and people observed a minute of silence at noon as church bells rang.
Kurz, President Alexander Van der Bellen and other officials participated in a wreath ceremony honoring the victims.
– ‘Common struggle’ –
Twenty-three injured people were in hospital on Tuesday, and seven were in critical condition, the Vienna Hospital Association said.
Police said an officer was among the injured.
Germany joined the Czech Republic in intensifying controls at its borders to detain possible accomplices.
“The fight against these murderers and those who instigate them is our common fight,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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