VIENNA: Two people including one attacker were killed in central Vienna on Monday evening in what Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described as a “repulsive terror attack”. More than 15 people injured in the attacked have been shifted to hospital out of whom seven are serious.
Police said there was “one deceased person” and several injured, including one police officer.
Meanwhile, one suspect was “shot and killed by police officers,” Vienna police said on their Twitter account.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told public broadcaster ORF that the operation against the attackers was still underway at around 11 pm local time (2200 GMT).
Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig told local media that 15 people had been taken to hospital, of whom seven were seriously injured.
The attack had been carried out by “several suspects armed with rifles”, said police, adding that there had been “six different shooting locations”.
First gunshots were fired at around 8:00 pm at the Seitenstettengasse in the city s centrally-located first district.
The shooting began just hours before Austria was to re-impose a coronavirus lockdown to try to slow the spread of Covid-19, and bars and restaurants played host to people enjoying a final night of relative freedom.
Kurz said on Twitter that “we are experiencing difficult hours in our republic”. “Our police will act decisively against the perpetrators of this repulsive terror attack,” he said, adding that “we will never be intimidated by terrorism and we will fight this attack with all means”.
Kurz said that while police were concentrating on the anti-terror operation, the army would take over the protection of important buildings in Vienna.
Nehammer urged Vienna residents to remain in their homes and keep away from all public places or public transport.
Frequent sirens and helicopters could be heard in the city centre as emergency services responded to the attack.
The location of the initial shooting is close to a major synagogue.
The president of Vienna s Jewish community Oskar Deutsch said that shots had been fired “in the immediate vicinity” of the Stadttempel synagogue, but added that it was currently unknown whether the synagogue itself had been the target of an attack.
He said that the synagogue and office buildings at the same address had been closed at the time of the attack.
“It sounded like firecrackers, then we realised it was shots,” said one eyewitness quoted by public broadcaster ORF.
A shooter had “shot wildly with an automatic weapon” before the police arrived and opened fire, the witness added.
Austria had until now been spared the sort of major attacks that have hit other European countries.
