2 Killed In Vienna “Terror Attack” At 6 Locations; 1 Gunman Shot Dead

Vienna, Austria:

Gunmen opened hearth at a number of places throughout central Vienna on Monday, killing at the very least two folks and wounding a number of extra in what Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described as a “repulsive terror assault”, with an enormous manhunt below manner for the assailants.

One of many gunmen was shot lifeless by police who stated they had been attempting to find at the very least yet one more attacker nonetheless at massive.

The assaults, in six places together with close to a synagogue within the centre of city, had been carried out by “a number of suspects armed with rifles”, police stated.

Police stated one particular person had died, with public broadcaster ORF stating the person was a passer-by.

Vienna mayor Michael Ludwig advised ORF {that a} second particular person had died of her accidents and that 15 folks had been taken to hospital, seven of them severely wounded.

Police acknowledged earlier that an officer had additionally been harm throughout the assaults.

The capturing started simply hours earlier than Austria was to re-impose a coronavirus lockdown, with folks out in bars and eating places having fun with a closing evening of relative freedom.

The assaults began at round 8 pm (1900 GMT) when the primary gunshots had been heard within the metropolis’s centrally positioned first district.

In a press convention early Tuesday, Inside Minister Karl Nehammer stated: “In response to what we at present know, there may be at the very least one attacker who continues to be on the run.”

Talking to ORF, Austrian chief Kurz had stated that the attackers had been “had been very properly geared up with automated weapons” and had “ready professionally”.

Earlier, he tweeted: “Our police will act decisively towards the perpetrators of this repulsive terror assault,” including that “we are going to by no means be intimidated by terrorism and we are going to battle this assault with all means”.

Kurz stated that whereas police had been concentrating on the anti-terror operation, the military would take over the safety of main buildings in Vienna.

Nehammer urged Vienna residents to stay of their properties and stay away from all public locations or public transport. He stated that youngsters wouldn’t be anticipated at college on Tuesday in Vienna.

Sirens and helicopters may very well be heard within the metropolis centre as emergency providers responded to the assault.

An AFP photographer stated that giant numbers of police had been guarding an space close to the town’s world-famous opera home.

The situation of the preliminary capturing was near a serious synagogue.

The president of Vienna’s Jewish neighborhood Oskar Deutsch stated that pictures had been fired “within the rapid neighborhood” of the Stadttempel synagogue, however added that it was at present unknown whether or not the temple itself had been the goal of an assault.

He stated that the synagogue and workplace buildings on the identical handle had been closed on the time of the assault.

– ‘Cowardly act’ –

“It appeared like firecrackers, then we realised it was pictures,” stated one eyewitness quoted by public broadcaster ORF.

A shooter had “shot wildly with an automated weapon” earlier than police arrived and opened hearth, the witness added.

Austria had till now been spared the type of main assaults which have hit different European international locations.

President Emmanuel Macron of France, which has skilled two critical assaults in latest weeks, tweeted that “we French share the shock and sorrow of the Austrian folks”.

“After France, it is a pleasant nation that has been attacked,” he added, referring to the killing on Thursday of three folks by an attacker within the southern metropolis of Good and the beheading of a schoolteacher by a suspected Islamist outdoors Paris a number of days earlier than.

EU Council chief Charles Michel tweeted that the bloc “strongly condemns this cowardly act”.

And Germany’s international ministry tweeted that the studies from Austria had been “horrifying and disturbing”.

“We will not give in to hatred that’s geared toward dividing our societies,” the ministry added.

Czech police stated they had been conducting checks on the border with Austria.

“Police are finishing up random checks of autos and passengers on border crossings with Austria as a safety measure in relation to the fear assault in Vienna,” Czech police tweeted.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte additionally “strongly condemned” the shootings.

“There is no such thing as a room for hatred and violence in our frequent European house,” he stated on Twitter in Italian and German.