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Shots were fired at various locations in the Austrian capital Vienna on Monday night, killing at least four people. Three people are seriously injured in the hospital.
The alleged perpetrator was shot and killed by the police after nine minutes. Kujtim Fejzulai is described as a 20-year-old IS sympathizer with a background in North Macedonia.
He was recently jailed for trying to join IS.
– He was released earlier because he had been involved in a de-radicalization program. He was ready to integrate more into society, says Interior Minister Karl Nehammer.
IS claims to be behind
The extremist group IS claims in a message on social media that they are behind the attack.
In the statement from the propaganda channel of the Amaq group on the Telegram messaging service, they do not present any evidence for the claim.
Austrian police arrested 14 people but say they believe there was only one attacker.
Fejzulai has citizenship of both North Macedonia and Austria and was born in Mödling, a small town south of Vienna.
Police entered the 20-year-old’s apartment Tuesday night, where they found material linking him to the Islamic State.
“It is clear that the attacker, despite all the external signs of having been integrated into society, was the exact opposite,” Nehammer said.
Two detainees in Switzerland
Swiss special police arrested the two men in Winterthur in coordination with Austrian authorities, according to the Zurich police.
Swiss Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said the two met the 20-year-old who was shot and killed by police during yesterday’s attack.
– The three men met, she said, but did not want to say more about the case, writes St. Galler Tagblatt.
Both the Austrian and Swiss police are investigating what kind of contact there has been between the men.
Candles and flowers in the streets where the attack occurred.
Photo: Helmut Fohringer / AFP
The 20-year-old was armed with an automatic rifle, pistol and machete and wore a fake bomb belt.
