Austrian minister says at least one ‘Islamist terrorist’ behind Vienna attack

At least one “Islamist terrorist” was responsible for strikes across central Vienna, in which gunmen killed five people and wounded several others, Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer announced on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference, Nehammer said police had shot dead one attacker, a man wearing an explosives belt that turned out to be fake, whom authorities have identified as an Islamic State sympathiser.

“We experienced an attack yesterday evening by at least one Islamist terrorist, a situation that we have not had to live through in Austria for decades,” Nehammer said.

“Austria for more than 75 years has been a strong democracy, a mature democracy, a country whose identity is marked by values and basic rights, with freedom of expression, rule of law, but also tolerance in human coexistence,” he said. “Yesterday’s attack is an attack on just these values