Austrian police were hunting for other suspects on Tuesday after at least one gunman killed four people in a rampage in the heart of Vienna overnight.
“IT IS A FIGHT BETWEEN CIVILISATION AND BARBARISM”
Police killed one gunman wearing an explosive belt that turned out to be fake. Authorities identified him as a 20-year-old convicted jihadist, and said they could not rule out the possibility that other shooters were still on the loose.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz pledged in a televised address to “hunt down the perpetrators and those who stand behind them”.
“The attack yesterday was clearly an Islamic terror attack,” Kurz added. “This is not a conflict between Christians and Muslims or between Austrians and migrants. No, this is a fight between the many people who believe in peace and the few (who oppose it). It is a fight between civilisation and barbarism.”
Witnesses described crowds being fired on in bars as people enjoyed a last evening out before the start of a nationwide coronavirus curfew. Six locations in central Vienna were attacked, starting outside the main synagogue, which was closed.
Nehammer had said overnight that at least one attacker was still on the loose. On Tuesday morning officials appeared to play down that suggestion, saying it was only a possibility but that they could not rule it out.