Authorities identified the attacker as Fez Ulalai Kujim, a 20-year-old Austrian from the city of St. Polten, 33 miles west of Vienna and the capital of the state of Niederosterach.
The latest suspects to be arrested were detained Tuesday after a police search of two apartments in St. Polten.
One of the two is of northern Macedonian origin, and the other Chechen, the broadcaster said. According to the ORF, the two are said to have previously made contact with the Vienna attacker.
Police in Switzerland arrested two Swiss nationals in connection with Tuesday night’s attack, but their links to Kujtim have not been confirmed.
Interior Minister Carl Nehammer told a news conference earlier on Tuesday that 14 suspects had been permanently arrested following a search of 18 homes in Vienna and Niederosterich.
There is no indication of another culprit for the time being, Nehmer said.
“You can imagine that some evidence has been preserved here that needs to be investigated,” Vienna State Police Chief Gerhard Purstall said at the same news conference.
“Interviews must also be conducted. It’s important to establish a connection between these people and the killer,” Purstell said, adding that this would take a long time.
People began to return to the streets of central Vienna on Wednesday morning, although controls of the coronavirus epidemic meant many people were working from home. Authorities on Tuesday advised residents to stay home, as more criminals could be released.
Kujim was shot dead by police in response to a shooting Monday night. He was wearing a fake explosive belt at the time of the attack, according to Nehammer, and was “radicalized.”
Kuzim was sentenced on April 25, 2019, to 22 months in prison for trying to travel to Syria to join ISIS, Nehamar told the state news agency APA. December In December, he was released on early parole, it is reported.
In an interview with CNN’s Fred Platzen in Vienna, Kurz said there was a gunman and “maybe he was alone.” Officers previously feared the offender would not work alone and that another gunman could be the big one.
Kurz confirmed that the gunman was born in Austria and has a family background from northern Macedonia. “What we do know is that he is a supporter of the Islamic State,” he said.
A statement from the encrypted messaging app said that ISIS had called the shooter “Abu Dujana al-Albani” responsible for Tuesday’s attack and claimed that he had used two guns, including a machine gun and a knife, in the attack. Wire.
The initial attack, which began around 8pm on Monday, focused on Vienna’s main synagogue, the Cittenstanges, near the temple and the busy district.
Austrian law enforcement sources, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, identified five other sites as Salzgrees, Flashmart, Bournemart, Grugben and Morzinplatz near the temple.
Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig said the shots were found to have been fired at random. Like people were eating and drinking outside due to hot weather and virus concerns.
Following reports of gunfire, armed police quickly deployed helicopters and ambulances with weapons. Police were seen patrolling the city center, ordering people to stay inside bars and restaurants.
A Palestinian man, Osama Abu al-Hosna, helped rescue a police officer wounded during the operation, his lawyer told CNN. “He would have escaped, but he was stopped, and he pulled the policeman behind the cement barrier so he would no longer be in the fire line,” said lawyer Muna Duzdar.
“The paramedics did not dare to pull him out and get in the way of the shooting, so he ran back to the officer to get out of there, and then two Turkish men helped because he couldn’t. He did it himself,” he added. “Together, they took him to the ambulance.”
Reuters and Turkish news agency Anadolu reported on Tuesday how Austrian-mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters of Turkish descent helped rescue a police officer and two women during the attack.
Like many European countries, before the fall of the self-proclaimed caliphate of terrorists, between 2014 and 2017, there was an increase in Austria among young radical Muslims trying to join ISIS in Syria.
The United Kingdom raised its terror threat level significantly on Tuesday, a day after an attack in Vienna.
“This is a precautionary measure and is not based on any specific threat. The public should remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police,” UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said in a tweet.
Journalist Dennis Hruby reports from Vienna, while CNN’s Sara Mazlomsaki writes from Atlanta and Laura Smith-Spark from London. CNN’s Nina Avramva, Frederick Platzen, Luke McGee and Sharon Braithwaite contributed to this report.
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