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Updated 1 hour ago
Following the shooting of people enjoying a last night before the lockdown, police patrol the scene in Vienna
Source: Ronald Zak via PA Images
A HUGE MANHUNT is underway after gunmen opened fire at various locations in central Vienna, killing at least four three people and wounding several more in what Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described as a “repulsive terrorist attack. ”.
One of the alleged killers, identified as a sympathizer of the Islamic State group, was shot dead by police who said they were looking for at least one more assailant who was still on the run.
The attacks, which took place in six locations, including near a synagogue in the city center, were carried out by “several suspects armed with rifles,” police said last night.
The shooting broke out just hours before Austria reimposed a coronavirus lockdown, with people in bars and restaurants enjoying one last night of partying.
Two men and two women were killed in the attack, an Interior Ministry spokesman said, while about 15 more were injured, seven seriously.
Police also said an officer was injured.
‘Radicalized’
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told a news conference today that the dead attacker was “a radicalized person who felt close to the Islamic State.”
“All the signs make it clear that he is a radicalized person and a person who feels closely related to IS.”
Police had used explosives to break into the apartment of the dead man who was “heavily armed,” added the minister.
He had previously noted: “According to 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.
Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer speaks at a press conference in Vienna.
Source: Xinhua News Agency / PA Images
Speaking to the ORF, Austrian leader Kurz said the attackers “were very well equipped with automatic weapons” and had “prepared professionally”.
He had tweeted: “Our police will act decisively against the perpetrators of this heinous terrorist attack.
Terrorism will never intimidate us and we will fight 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 children are not expected to go to school today.
Sirens and helicopters could be heard in the city center as emergency services responded to the attack.
The site of the initial shooting was near a major synagogue.
The president of the Vienna Jewish community, Oskar Deutsch, said that shots had been fired “in the immediate vicinity” of the Stadttempel synagogue.
He added that it is currently unknown whether the temple, closed at the time, had been the target of an attack.
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Police on the scene in Vienna today
Source: Ronald Zak / PA Images
‘Cowardly act’
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 recently, 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 killing on Thursday of three people by an attacker in the southern city of Nice after the beheading of a school teacher by a suspected Islamist on the outskirts. from Paris on October 16. .
German Chancellor Angela Merkel this morning condemned the shootings and said that “Islamist terror is our common enemy.”
“The fight against these killers and those who instigate them is our common fight,” Merkel’s spokesperson tweeted, adding: “solidarity” with Austria.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that he was “deeply shocked” by the events of the night and that “the thoughts of the UK are with the people of Austria; we are united with you against terrorism.”
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.
Czech police said they were conducting random checks at the Austrian border.
Includes reports from © – AFP, 2020
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