Crime & Justice

14 arrested as Austrian police probe alleged links to ‘Islamist’ gunman

(Update 1: Adds detail throughout)

Vienna, Nov 3 (efe-epa).- Austria’s interior minister said Tuesday there was no evidence of a second attacker involved in the deadly shooting last night in Vienna but police have arrested several people suspected of having links with the assailant, who was an Islamic State sympathizer.

A gunman, identified locally as an Austrian and North Macedonian duel national Kujtim Fejzulai, killed four people and injured 22 others in what authorities have described as an Islamist terror attack in Vienna on Monday night.

Austria’s interior minister Karl Nehammer ordered Vienna’s residents to remain at home while police searched for suspected accomplices in the attack.

“Having examined the videos that were sent in to us, there are no indications of a second attacker,” he told a press conference.

Earlier in the day he tweeted: “We have seen an attack by at least one Islamist terrorist.”

Austrian police have arrested 14 people with suspected links to the attacker, who had previously been charged with terror offenses for attempting to join the IS in Syria.

He was ordered to serve 22 months in an Austrian prison after being stopped on the Turkish border on his way to the war-torn country.

He was released eight months later after taking part in a de-radicalization program.

The assailant launched his attack in the center of Vienna at around 8 pm, hours before new lockdown laws were due to come into effect.

Related Articles

Back to top button