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The perpetrator of the deadly attack that affected the city of Vienna on Monday night managed to “fool” the de-radicalization program and those responsible for its persecution, the Austrian Interior Minister lamented, reports AFP and Reuters.
A native of North Macedonia, Kujtim Fejzulai, killed by police on Monday night, was sentenced in 2019 to 22 months in prison in Austria for trying to go to Syria to join the Islamic State, but was released early. , Explained the Interior Minister, Karl Nehammer, at a press conference.
The 20-year-old had thus managed to “fool” the de-radicalization program and those responsible for monitoring it, the minister said.
The de-radicalization program continued, but “despite all the outward signs of integration into society, the attacker apparently did the exact opposite,” Nehammer said of Fejzulai.
He had posted a photo on Instagram before the attack, in which he appeared with two weapons.
He acted visibly alone, contrary to the first statements of the authorities that had launched a persecution to find other suspects. There is no evidence at this stage of a second attacker, Nehammer said.
The minister also announced 18 searches and 14 arrests during the day.
The attacker opened fire while many Viennese enjoyed a last moment of freedom, on the terrace or in the restaurant, before the quarantine. He was armed with an assault rifle and an explosive belt.
At the scene of the attack, a major security cordon surrounded the perimeter of the attack on Tuesday and officers are searching for clues.
National mourning
Austria, in a state of shock, declared three days of national mourning after what Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called “a disgusting terrorist attack”.
The four victims included an elderly man and woman, a young passerby and a waitress, Chancellor Kurz said.
Fifteen people remained hospitalized, including three in critical condition, according to the Vienna Hospital Association.
Police and soldiers mobilized to protect important buildings in the capital, and children were exempted from school on Tuesday.
“We will never be intimidated by terrorism and we will combat these attacks with all our means,” Kurz said.
This attack, which took place in a very tense climate in Europe, sparked an influx of solidarity reactions, from US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to all European leaders, Ursula von der Leyen, Emmanuel. Macron or Angela Merkel.
In France, three people were killed in a knife attack on Thursday at the Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption basilica in Nice (southeast) by a young Tunisian recently arrived in Europe.
A few days earlier, the beheading of Samuel Paty, a history teacher who had shown his students cartoons of Muhammad in a course on freedom of expression, shocked France and beyond.
