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After the Islamist terrorist attack in downtown Vienna on Tuesday, there were no indications of a second perpetrator for the time being. This was said by Minister of the Interior Karl Nehammer at a press conference in the afternoon. Four people and the perpetrator were killed, a total of 22 other people were injured. In the vicinity of the perpetrator, 18 house searches were carried out in Vienna and Lower Austria, and 14 people were provisionally arrested.
Nevertheless, an increased security alert was maintained. According to the Minister of the Interior, the shot officer was in stable condition after an operation.
Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen spoke of a “cowardly terrorist attack on the heart of our society”. It was apparently meant for all those who valued and upheld life in a free community. However, he said, one would not give in. “Hatred can never be as strong as our community in freedom, democracy, tolerance and love,” said the Federal President.
“We will not be intimidated by terrorists,” emphasized Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. An older gentleman, an elderly lady, a young passer-by and a waitress had been “torn out of life” by the attack. The division of society aimed for by the Islamists would not be allowed: “We will not give room to this hatred. The enemy was Islamic extremism, not all members of an entire religion.” Kurz also expressed his thanks for the many international expressions of solidarity.
The perpetrator who was shot on Monday evening was identified on Tuesday by the Ministry of the Interior as a 20-year-old dual citizen of northern Macedonia and Austria with the name Kujtim Fejzulai. He had served a prison sentence for terrorist organization because he had tried to leave for Syria and join the radical Islamist terror militia “Islamic State” (IS).
The North Macedonian Ministry of the Interior confirmed cooperation with Austria. The Austrian police, through Europol, had made a request to this effect, it was said. The department for international police work has already taken up this request, the North Macedonian Internet portal MKD reported, referring to the Ministry of the Interior.
According to the Islamic Religious Community in Austria (IGGÖ), the perpetrator is said to have “not come from our immediate religious community”. President Ümit Vural condemned the assassination attempt. It was a “cowardly, abominable act”. The Imam Ramazan Demir, himself a former prison chaplain, emphasized that the man had already been imprisoned, which made him “all the more sad” because: “Prisons are hotbeds of radicalization.
The police have so far been able to secure three crime scenes. The man was shot at Ruprechtsplatz after killing a waitress there. Other deadly shootings could also be reconstructed, at the Fleischmarkt and at the Franz-Josefs-Kai.
The Ministry of the Interior specified on Tuesday where the assassin shot at his victims. According to this, he fatally injured a waitress employed in a well-known restaurant at Ruprechtsplatz 1. At the same address the 20-year-old was later shot dead by police forces.
In addition to the crime scene in front of the Ruprechtskirche, two other fatal shootings have since been reconstructed. According to this, one victim was killed at the address Fleischmarkt 4, another at Franz Josefs Kai 21. The terrorist fired at the severely injured 28-year-old policeman at Franz Josefs Kai 29. The exact timing has not yet been clarified.
The flags at the Federal Chancellery and the Presidential Chancellery were set at half-mast on Tuesday morning. This was also the case at all ministries and public buildings. Nationally and internationally, politicians were horrified by the bloody attack and declared their solidarity with Austria.
The city center of Vienna was again accessible by public transportation in the morning hours. Schools throughout Vienna were in “emergency operation”. In agreement with the Ministry of the Interior, compulsory education was suspended for Tuesday.
— Source: APA, Picture: dailyechoed.com
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