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Terror attack in Vienna leaves four dead
By Ivana Kottasová, Nectar Gan, Jenni Marsh and Helen Regan, CNN
Updated 5:16 p.m. ET, November 4, 2020
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ISIS claims it was behind Vienna attack
From CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq in Atlanta
ISIS claimed it was behind the attack in central Vienna on Monday that killed at least four people and wounded 22 others.
On Tuesday, the terror group released a statement along with a picture that, according to the group, showed the attacker. The group claimed the attacker used two guns, including one machine gun, and a knife.
The group identified the man as Abu Dujana Al-Albany in their statement, which was posted to Telegram.
Here's what we know about the Vienna terror attack
What happened:
- Four people were shot dead by a heavily armed attacker across six locations in central Vienna on Monday evening. The perpetrator was also killed.
The victims:
- Authorities have not yet identified the people who were killed, beyond saying they were "an elderly man, an elderly woman, a younger passerby and a waitress."
- One of the deceased is a German citizen, according to Germany's foreign minister.
- Austria's Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said 22 people were injured in the attack, some seriously. A police officer who was among the injured was in a stable condition after a surgery.
The gunman:
- The gunman, named by the authorities as Fejzulai Kujtim, was a 20-year old ISIS supporter who had served time in prison after being convicted of trying to travel to Syria to fight for the terror group.
- Kujtim, a dual citizen of Austria and North Macedonia, was sentenced to 22 months in jail in April 2019, but was freed in December. He was eligible for conditional release due to his age.
- Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told CNN it was "clear this terrorist attack was Islamist terrorist attack."
Other suspects:
- Kurz told CNN the attacker "was probably alone." Police warned earlier there was a possibility that a second assailant was on the run and asked Vienna residents to stay at home. According to a police spokesperson, this was based on eyewitnesses saying there might have been more than one assailant. Later, the police said it found no evidence of a second attacker.
- 14 people have been arrested in connection with the attack. Police are now trying to establish whether the attacker had any accomplices and whether he was part of a larger group.
Condolences from around the world:
- Many foreign leaders including US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Russian President Vladimir Putin sent messages of support to the Austrian government and the nation.
- Kurz told CNN he had been in contact with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the possibility of the attack in Vienna being linked to the recent attacks in France.
UK raises its terror threat level to "severe" after Vienna attack
From CNN's Luke McGee in London
British Home Secretary Priti Patel has announced the UK's terror threat level has been raised from "substantial" to "severe" on Tuesday.
"The public should continue to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police," Patel said on Twitter.
A UK government official told CNN the decision to raise the alert level was "precautionary" and related to the attack in Vienna and the earlier attacks in France. "There are always lots of threats but this is precautionary," the official added.
Witnesses describe horror as gunman attacked Vienna's 'Bermuda Triangle'
From Denise Hruby in Vienna and Angela Dewan in London
Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister watched in horror as a gunman weaved in and out of bars and pubs in central Vienna, shooting at people enjoying a last night of fun before Austria's nationwide coronavirus curfew came into effect.
"He was working like a professional, trained attacker," Hofmeister told CNN. "He looked professional, he didn't look confused and he wasn't shooting around randomly -- it was very targeted and coordinated, like a fighter."
Hofmeister witnessed the attack Monday evening at the busy Bermuda Triangle entertainment quarter, watching from his home near the Seitenstettengasse Temple, the synagogue where he gives religious instruction.
Hofmeister called the police and told them that a gunman was running towards people at a bar, shooting "dozens, maybe hundreds, of rounds."
Read the whole story here.
The music went on in the Vienna State Opera house as an attack unfolded outside
From Sharon Braithwaite in Pisa
When the security of the world-famous Vienna State Opera told its staff that shots had been fired in the city center and that people were not allowed to leave the building, the performance of Pagliacci's Cavalleria Rusticana kept going.
"We decided not to stop the performance ... it was our last performance before the corona-lockdown," a spokeswoman for the opera house told CNN via email.
The director went on stage and told the audience what had happened and that security forces would not allow people to leave the opera.
"The audience was very calm, nobody panicked," the spokeswoman said, adding that "after about an hour, a few musicians played the string quartet to entertain the audience that was still in the hall."
"The quartet was not arranged. They played it very spontaneously, there were not many people in the hall. They played a quartet by Joseph Haydn, one of the greatest composers of our country."
Barbara Lovett was among those who witnessed the moment and posted a video on Twitter. "Police kept us safe inside the Vienna State Opera after tonight's performance. While we waited, members of the Vienna Philharmonic started to play. No attack will ever stop the music in Vienna," she tweeted.
Kurz to CNN: Europe must also fight "those who try to mislead young people in mosques"
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told CNN he has been in contact with the French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday to discuss whether there could be links between the attack in Vienna on Monday and the recent terror attacks in France.
"The ideology behind it is always the same," Kurz told CNN. "It's the idea of radicalizing youth, of radicalizing the second generation of people who live in our societies to fight our societies," Kurz said.
"That's the main challenge we will have in the European Union, how to deal with these people and how to fight not only the terrorists themselves, but also those who try to mislead young people in mosques and try to spread these ideas in our societies."
France has seen two separate attacks in the past two weeks. A teacher, Samuel Paty, was murdered on October 16 in the northern Paris suburb of Éragny after showing cartoons published in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo depicting the Prophet Mohammed to students in his class. Last week, three people were stabbed to death at a church in the French city of Nice.
Kurz said the European Union must be united in the fight against terrorism. "Because even if there are no links between this terrorist attack and the terrorist attacks in Germany and France, we know that the goal behind is always the same. These are people who are against our democracy, who are against our way of living and who are against our values," he said.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz tells CNN that Vienna gunman "probably was alone"
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told CNN the situation in Vienna was "more or less under control" after the attacker was shot dead by police.
In an interview in Vienna with CNN's Fred Pleitgen on Tuesday afternoon, Kurz said the gunman likely acted alone.
"We know there was at least one gunman, probably he was alone, but he was able to kill four people and he wounded 14 people ... we are very happy that the police was able to take him down, and so I would say is the situation is more or less under control," he said.
Kurz added that the authorities are now trying to establish whether there are people who supported the attacker. "We are trying to find out if the attacker was part of a broader network."
He added that the authorities know the gunman was "a supporter of the Islamic State."
"It is crystal clear this terrorist attack was Islamist terrorist attack. The gunman was born in Austria, he has a migration background from northern Macedonia and what we know is that he is a supporter of the Islamic state," he said.
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German citizen among victims, German minister says
A German woman was identified as one of the people killed in the attack in Vienna on Monday, Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Mass said on his Twitter.
Four people were killed in the attack -- two men and two women. The victims have not been named.
Earlier on Tuesday, Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer identified them as "an elderly man, an elderly woman, a young passerby and a waitress."