Yesterday evening, terrorists opened fire in the center of Vienna. The attack took place in at least six different places in the Austrian capital, among the attackers was one supporter of the Islamic State terrorist group.
ElitExpert collected the details that are currently known about the first terrorist attack in Vienna in 35 years.
The first reports of the incident appeared around 21:00 Kyiv time (20:00 local time). Later, the police officially reported that the shooting took place in at least six different locations in the center of Vienna.
According to the mayor of the city, Michael Ludwig, the terrorists opened fire indiscriminately on the street Seitenstettengasse, after which they started moving towards the city center, shooting at the visitors of bars and restaurants, as well as at random passers-by. Information appeared in the mass media that the attackers took hostages in one of the restaurants in the city center and in the Hilton hotel, but it was not confirmed. The attack took place on the eve of the introduction of a lockdown and curfew in Austria due to the coronavirus — from November 3, residents of the country will have to stay at home after 20:00 p.m., and bars and restaurants will be closed.
According to the city police, on the morning of November 3, as a result of the shooting in Vienna, three people died: two men and one woman; another 15 people, including one policeman, were injured. The mayor of Vienna, Michael Ludwig, said that the six victims are in serious condition.
It is not yet known how many attackers there were. Wien24 reports that there could be up to ten people. The police officially reported that one of the attackers was killed in a shootout. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as reported by Kronen Zeitung, the terrorist attack was committed by "at least one Islamist terrorist" who sympathized with the "Islamic State". The publication reported that one of the criminals blew himself up on a belt with explosives, but the police officially reported that it was a fake "suicide belt". The police are looking for possible accomplices of the terrorist.
The area of the incident was cordoned off by the police. Law enforcement officers asked the residents of the area not to go out into the street and not to post photos and videos from the scene of the incident on social networks — and instead send them to law enforcement agencies. All restaurants and bars were ordered to close their doors. Military personnel provide assistance to the police in protecting objects in the city center.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called the incident a "disgusting act of terrorism." "We will never allow terrorism to intimidate us and we will fight such attacks with all possible means," Kurtz said. He thanked the emergency services for their work and expressed his condolences to the dead, injured and their relatives.
