Vienna: Five people, including a gunman, were shot dead as assailants opened fire at multiple locations in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Monday evening, an incident that Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described as a “repulsive terror attack”, news agency Associated Press reported.
According to police, “several suspects armed with rifles” attacked six locations, including near the world famous opera house in the heart of the city.
The shooting occurred mere hours before Austria was to re-impose a coronavirus lockdown, and thus many people were out in bars and restaurants enjoying a night out.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said, “We will never be intimidated by terrorism and we will fight this attack with all means.”
An Austrian Interior Ministry spokesman revealed that two men and two woman were killed in the attack, while around 15 more were injured, seven of them seriously. A police officer also sustained injuries.
One of the suspected killers, who was identified as an Islamic State sympathiser, was also gunned down by police, while they are searching for at least one more assailant,