SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Tuesday condemned an attack that killed three civilians in Vienna on Monday night.
“I condemn last night’s terror attack against civilians in Vienna. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Austria and the families of victims; and I wish a swift recovery for those wounded in the shooting,” Barzani said in a tweet.
Police confirmed on Tuesday that three civilians –two men and a woman – were killed in the attacks, with at least 15 others wounded, including a police officer, according to Reuters. Broadcaster ORF later said a fourth civilian, a woman, had died.
Seven of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, the APA news agency said.
In an early morning televised news conference, Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer repeated calls for the public to stay off the streets.
Nehammer said police had shot to death one attacker, a man wearing an explosives belt that turned out to be fake, whom authorities have identified as an Islamic State sympathizer.
The editor of Vienna’s Falter newspaper said in Twitter messages that the assailant who was killed was known to domestic intelligence agencies.
The 20-year-old had Albanian roots but was born and raised in Vienna, the editor said. He was one of 20 Austrian Islamists who had wanted to travel to Syria, the editor added.
The assailant killed by police, and other potential gunmen, attacked six locations in central Vienna on Monday evening, starting outside the main synagogue. Witnesses described the men firing into crowds in bars with automatic rifles, as many people took advantage of the last evening before a nationwide curfew was introduced because of COVID-19.
