Terrorist attacks in Vienna, at least two dead

(Vienna) Shootings left at least two dead Monday evening in the center of Vienna and one of the attackers was still wanted, “a disgusting terrorist attack” according to the Austrian chancellor.

Anne BEADE
France Media Agency

The first victim was a passerby, and the second a woman who died of her injuries, according to the public broadcaster ORF.

“At least one suspect is on the run,” Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said overnight. The attacks have not been claimed at this stage, a few days after the attacks in France.

The shootings erupted at the very beginning of the evening, a few hours before the entry into force of a containment of Austria to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The drama took place in the heart of the city, near an important synanogue and the Opera House. “Six different places” were targeted, police said.

“At this stage, it is not possible to say whether the synagogue” was the target of the shooters, reacted Oskar Deutsch, the president of the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG).

One of the attackers was shot dead by the police, quickly intervened on the scene and one of the members was injured.

The mayor of the city also reported 15 people hospitalized, including 7 in serious condition.

On the spot, the police forces mobilized in numbers to secure the scene, noted an AFP photographer, while passers-by fled. Shortly after, the spectators of the Opera left under escort the performance, the last before confinement.

“Stay at home”

The minister called on residents to exercise caution and stay at home. “Stay at home! If you are outside, take refuge somewhere! Stay away from public places, do not use transport! », Launched the police on his Twitter account.

Police and soldiers were mobilized to protect important buildings in the capital, and children were exempted from school on Tuesday.

One witness, interviewed on a television station, said he saw “a person running with an automatic weapon”, another witness reporting “at least 50 shots”.

According to the testimony of a young woman interviewed by AFP, the neighborhood was immediately cordoned off. Customers of the neighborhood restaurants and bars were still confined indoors in the middle of the night.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz strongly condemned these attacks. “We will never be intimidated by terrorism and we will fight these attacks with all our means,” he said.

“Cowardly act”

The European Union has also castigated “with force” this “horrible attack”, in the words of the President of the European Council Charles Michel, evoking “a cowardly act” which “violates life and our human values”. For her part, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, wrote, also on Twitter: “Europe is totally in solidarity with Austria. We are stronger than hatred and terror ”.

“Our enemies need to know who they are dealing with. We will not give in, ”reacted French President Emmanuel Macron for his part.

Germany has also expressed its solidarity.

This new attack, in a city where crime is usually very low, takes place in a very tense climate in Europe.

In France, three people were killed Thursday in a knife attack at the Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption basilica in Nice (south-east) by a young Tunisian who had recently arrived in Europe.

A few days earlier, the beheading of Samuel Paty, a history teacher who had shown caricatures of Muhammad to his students in a course on freedom of expression, had shocked people beyond France.

Austria had so far been relatively spared from the wave of Islamist attacks in Europe in recent years.

In March 2018, a young man, an Islamist sympathizer according to the police, had attacked a member of the security forces in front of the Iranian embassy in Vienna with a knife before being shot. In June 2017, a man born in Tunisia killed an elderly couple in Linz. He had explained that he wanted to make an example, because he felt discriminated against as a foreigner and a Muslim.

The worst terrorist attacks in Austria killed four people each time: the attack by the Palestinian group Abu Nidal on the counter of the Israeli airline El Al at Vienna airport (1985), the homemade bomb planted by the neo-Nazi Franz Fuchs in Oberwart targeting the Roma community (1995), and the bomb letters sent by the same Fuchs (1993-1997).