Austrian officials said Tuesday that the perpetrators of an attack in the Austrian capital Vienna that killed at least three people and wounded 15 others were supporters of the Islamic State terrorist group.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told reporters, “We experienced an attack last night by at least one Islamic terrorist.”
He said the attacker was armed with an assault rifle and was wearing a fake suicide undershirt when police opened fire, killing the killer instantly.
Nehammer said a search was underway Tuesday to investigate whether anyone else was involved in the attack.
At this point we can’t rule out the possibility that there were other accomplices,” he said. Therefore, we are investigating the attackers and Vienna as a whole to find out if the number of perpetrators was just one or two.”
Authorities have advised people to stay away from public places and mass transit. Students in Vienna were also allowed to miss school on Tuesday.
The shootings took place at six locations in Vienna late Monday, just hours before authorities imposed a partial shutdown due to an increase in new crown cases. The dead included two men and a woman, and a police officer was among the wounded.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called the shooting “an abominable terrorist attack.
He said the attackers were “professional and well-prepared” and “well-equipped, with automatic weapons.
In an interview with Austrian public broadcaster ORF, Nehammer said the six shooting sites were all in the center of Vienna, near a main street with a major synagogue.
Jewish community leader Oskar Deutsch said on Twitter that it was unclear whether the synagogue and the office next door were the targets of the attack. He said the buildings were closed at the time of the incident.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who is busy responding to recent attacks by Muslim extremists in France, said on Twitter that France “shares the shock and sadness of the Austrian people who were attacked tonight.
He said, “This is our Europe. Our enemies must understand who they are facing. We will not back down.”
In a statement Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed solidarity with neighboring Austria, saying, “The fight against Islamic terrorism is our common struggle.”
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States “strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Vienna.”
Pompeo said, “We express our deepest sympathies to the families of those who were killed and those who were injured. We affirm our support for the police and first responders and our solidarity with the people of Austria.”
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