Vienna synagogue shooting: 7 dead, more injured in ‘suicide attack’
‘Seven dead’ and several injured in Austrian terror attack: Police launch huge manhunt for ‘multiple suspects’ as gunman rampages through streets near synagogue and ‘another blows himself up’
- Several people are thought to have been killed in a shooting rampage across six different places in Vienna
- Police are urging people to avoid public transport and the Vienna city centre as they deal with the incident
- There are reports of several attackers, with one accomplice said to have ‘blown themselves up’ amid rampage
- Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told Austrian broadcaster ORF: ‘At the moment I can confirm we believe this is an apparent terror attack’
At least seven people are thought to have been killed with several others injured in multiple gun and suspected suicide attacks near a synagogue in Vienna.
A huge manhunt is currently underway for several attackers armed with rifles with police confirming shootings at six different locations, starting near the synagogue at 8pm local time.
One attacker is thought to have ‘blown themselves up’ during the rampage with another arrested and one shot dead by police. A police officer is also thought to have been shot and seriously injured.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told Austrian broadcaster ORF: ‘At the moment I can confirm we believe this is an apparent terror attack.’
He added that the attack was believed to have been carried out by several people and that all six locations were in the immediate vicinity of the street housing the central synagogue.
The rampage comes on the last evening before Austria goes into lockdown, with bars and restaurants in the country closed from midnight tonight.
Shocking footage showing a man carrying an assault rifle and sprinting through the streets of Vienna and firing off shots was shared on social media, though it is unclear if he is the gunman behind the attack.
More distressing footage appears to show the moment a man is shot by the attacker.
Police urged people to avoid all open spaces and public transport in the city. Police said trams and buses were not stopping and urged social media users not to post videos of the police operation, so as not to endanger officers.
A man carrying an assault rifle and believed to be the gunman who carried out the rampage in Vienna on Monday evening
A photo shared on social media purportedly showing some of the suspects behind the rampage being arrested by police officers
Although yet to be confirmed, this is thought to be a photo taken near the scene of where the shots rang out
Women run away from the first district near the state opera, central Vienna as shots ring out following several attacks in the city
Police control a person as they patrol in central Vienna on November 2, 2020, following a shooting near a synagogue
Armed policemen stand witha a dog near the State Opera in the center of Vienna this evening while the manhunt continues
Oskar Deutsch, the head of the Jewish community in Vienna, said the shooting took place in the street where the city’s main synagogue is located but that it wasn’t clear whether the house of worship had been targeted.
The synagogue was already closed at the time of the shooting, Deutsch tweeted. A neighbouring restaurant was also closed.
Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister said he saw at least one person fire shots at people sitting outside bars in the street below his window.
‘They were shooting at least 100 rounds just outside our building,’ Hofmeister said.
‘All these bars have tables outside. This evening is the last evening before the lockdown,’ he added. ‘As of midnight, all bars and restaurants will be closed in Austria for the next month and a lot of people probably wanted to use that evening to be able to go out.’
Footage believed to be taken near the scene showed people ducking and weaving as they run for cover, with shots ringing out.
One attacker was ‘dead’ and another ‘on the run’, while one police officer had been seriously injured, Austria’s interior ministry said according to news agency APA
The rampage comes on the last evening before Austria goes into lockdown, with bars and restaurants in the country closed from midnight tonight
Austria’s top security official said authorities believe there were several attackers involved and the incident was ongoing
One attacker was ‘dead’ and another ‘on the run’, with one police officer being seriously injured. Police later confirmed there were several attackers
Police urged people to avoid all open spaces and public transport in the city. Police said trams and buses were not stopping and urged social media users not to post videos of the police operation
An Austrian policeman overlooks an area in Vienna after a shooting in the city centre. Multiple gunshots were fired in central Vienna on Monday evening, police said, while media reported that there had been an attack close to a synagogue
Police block a street near Schwedenplatz square after a shooting in Vienna, Austria this evening, with at least one person dead
Armed police officers walk through the streets of Vienna after this evening’s attack, with a manhunt said to be underway
Shocking footage believed to be taken near the scene showing people ducking and weaving as they run for cover, with shots ringing out
Austrian journalist Thomas Mayar, citing the Ministry of the Interior, said: ‘One dead and several injured in an attack on the synagogue in Seitenstettengasse in the center of Vienna, says the Ministry of the Interior. Large-scale police operation.
‘Stay in the houses. Shots on Schwedenplatz.’
Austrian public broadcaster ORF cited witnesses saying several shots were fired shortly after 7pm.
Another Austrian newspaper reported that the attack was on the street that houses the city’s main synagogue.
Vienna Police tweeted: ‘Around #InnnerenStadt there were several exchanges of fire. There are several injured people. We are on duty with all possible forces. Please avoid all public places in the city.’
More to follow
Timeline of terror: How many attacks has Europe seen this year so far – and how did the devastation unfold
February 2 – Streatham stabbing
‘Knife-obsessed’ terrorist Sudesh Amman, 20, was shot dead by police after stabbing two people in Streatham in February
‘Knife-obsessed’ terrorist Sudesh Amman, 20, was shot dead by police after stabbing two people in Streatham in February.
He went on a rampage in south London, stabbing a man in his 40s in the stomach and a female cyclist in her 50s in the back, though both survived.
Amman, from Harrow, was automatically released from prison just a few days before the attack.
He was jailed for three years and four months in December 2018 after he pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing terrorist documents.
The then-18-year-old fantasised about carrying out a terror attack with a blade or with acid while riding a moped and also shared Al Qaeda propaganda on a WhatsApp group used by his family.
Wearing a fake suicide vest, Amman stole a £3.99 blade from a convenience store and stabbed the man, in his 40s, in the stomach before knifing a female cyclist, in her 50s, in the back.
Armed police were on the scene within minutes, having been following him because they suspected he was going to launch a terrorist attack imminently. After he failed to stop, Amman was shot dead outside a Boots chemist.
After the rampage, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government would announce further plans for ‘fundamental changes to the system for dealing with those convicted of terrorism offences’ on Monday.
A Whitehall source claimed he was released despite concerns because the law didn’t give them the power to keep him in jail.
Amman (pictured on the floor) went on a rampage in south London, stabbing a man in his 40s in the stomach and a female cyclist in her 50s in the back, though both survived
September 25 – Stabbing in Paris outside the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine
Two people were stabbed with a meat cleaver in Paris on September 25 this year.
The attack happened near the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, where Islamist militants carried out a deadly attack in 2015.
The September attack was dubbed an ‘act of Islamist terrorism’ by France’s interior minister and two suspects were arrested separately shortly after the stabbing.
Police arrested two men – a ‘main perpetrator’ and another suspect – after one was spotted with blood dripping from his clothes near the Opera Bastille. The other was stopped at a Metro station.
The main suspect is said to be an 18-year-old called Ali, who was known to the police, while the second man was described as a 33-year-old Algerian.
Three others were also later detained in relation to the attack, a judicial source said.
Two people were stabbed with a meat cleaver in Paris on September 25 this year. Pictured: A suspect being detained after the attack
October 4 – Dresden stabbing
One German tourist was stabbed to death and another injured in an attack in Dresden on October 4.
Abdullah AHH, 20 – a young Syrian ISIS supporter – was arrested.
He was previously jailed for two years and nine months in 2018 as an 18-year-old and was released from jail just five days before he allegedly attacked and wounded the visitors from western Germany in downtown Dresden.
The victims, one aged 53 and the other 55, were German men from the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia on vacation in Dresden, according to the police.
They were severely injured in the knife attack and the 55-year-old later died.
Syrian ISIS supporter Abdullah AHH (pictured), 20, was arrested after a tourist was stabbed to death and another seriously injured in the eastern German city of Dresden on October 4, authorities said today
October 12 – Zagreb shooting
Danijel Bezuk, 22, fired shots at a Croatian government building using an assault rifle.
Bezuk wounded a police officer in the attack before taking his own life.
October 16 – Beheading of Samuel Paty in France
History teacher Samuel Paty (pictured) was decapitated for showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a civics class discussion on free speech on October 16
History teacher Samuel Paty was decapitated for showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a civics class discussion on free speech on October 16.
He became the subject of an online hate campaign over his choice of lesson material – the same images which unleashed a bloody assault by Islamist gunmen on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo five years ago.
The father of one of Paty’s pupils, who started the social media campaign even though his daughter was not in class when the cartoons were shown, is among seven people charged over the attack.
He had exchanged messages with the killer, 18-year-old Chechnya-born Abdullakh Anzorov, via WhatsApp in the days leading up to the murder.
Ricard said that two teenagers – aged 14 and 15 – were also among the those being prosecuted for their part in a group who shared €300-350 (£270-£315) offered by the killer to help identify Paty.
The pair stayed with Anzorov for more than two hours waiting for the 47-year-old father of one even after the killer told them he wanted to ‘humiliate and strike’ Paty over the Muhammad caricatures, seen as offensive by many Muslims.
Anzorov decapitated Paty with a knife and tweeted an image of the teacher’s severed head on Twitter before he was shot dead by police.
French President Emmanuel Macron watched the coffin of slain teacher Samuel Paty being carried into the courtyard of the Sorbonne university during a national memorial event in Paris last night
October 29 – Nice stabbing
Brahim Aoussaoui, 21, allegedly beheaded Nadine Devillers, 60, slit the throat of sexton Vincent Loques, 55, and stabbed mother-of-three Simone Barreto Silva, 44, to death in a horrifying attack in Nice
A woman was beheaded and three other people killed in a knife attack at Nice Notre-Dame Basilica on October 29.
Brahim Aoussaoui, 21, allegedly beheaded Nadine Devillers, 60, slit the throat of sexton Vincent Loques, 55, and stabbed mother-of-three Simone Barreto Silva, 44, to death in the horrifying attack.
Aoussaoui transited through Italy last month en route to France.
During the attack last week, Aoussaoui arrived in Nice at around 6.30am via the railway station, where he quickly changed his clothes.
CCTV then showed him arriving in the church at 8.30am and staying there for nearly half an hour.
French anti-terror prosecutors said Aoussaoui attacked worshippers in the heart of the Mediterranean resort city with a foot-long blade.
