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Large-scale operation in downtown Vienna
Photo:
Georg Hochmuth / dpa
Shots rang out in downtown Vienna on Monday evening around 8 p.m.
There was one fatality and several seriously injured, including a police officer.
The Vienna police confirmed this.
One of several perpetrators with long weapons, i.e. firearms whose barrel is at least 30 centimeters long, was shot during the operation.
There have been at least six crime scenes.
Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) has condemned the attack as a "repulsive terrorist attack".
"Our police will take decisive action against the perpetrators of this hideous terrorist attack," wrote the Austrian head of government on Twitter.
The Austrian Armed Forces will with immediate effect take over the property protection previously carried out by the police in Vienna so that the police can concentrate on fighting terrorism.
"We are currently experiencing difficult times in our republic. I would like to thank all the emergency services who risk their lives, especially today for our security," Kurz wrote on.
"The whole country is in thoughts with the victims, injured and their families, to whom I express my deepest condolences."
Harald Sörös, spokesman for the Austrian Ministry of the Interior, said late in the evening in an interview with the Austrian broadcaster ORF: "We know of a pedestrian who was killed. We assume that there are several perpetrators, one suspect could be shot by the police," Sörös continued.
A long weapon was found on the dead man;
the other alleged perpetrators are currently still on the run.
Regarding the rumor that at least one of the fugitives was wearing an explosives belt, Sörös said: "We cannot confirm this explosives belt at this time, but we cannot rule it out either."
Further backgrounds were initially unclear.
A spokeswoman for the ministry said it could not be confirmed whether the synagogue near a crime scene was the target of the attack.
Large parts of the city center are cordoned off, and in the late evening helicopters circled over the city.
According to ORF, the professional rescue service is setting up a triage area in the inner city of Vienna to treat the victims according to the severity of the injuries.
According to Rainer Gottwald, head of the Viennese professional rescue service, 50 ambulances from Vienna are currently in use, plus 13 other vehicles that have come to support from Lower Austria.
"We have 16 emergency doctors on site, another 22 are ready for action," said Gottwald on ORF.
According to Vienna's mayor Michael Ludwig, a total of 15 people were admitted to Vienna's hospitals, seven of them seriously injured.
"People were shot indiscriminately at people in the bars," said Ludwig, "especially people who were out and about in pub
gardens (beer gardens, the
editor
)
."
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sak / him / clh / dpa