Austrian police arrest 14 people in connection with Vienna terror attack
According to Reuters, Austrian police raided 18 locations on Tuesday, November 4, and arrested 14 people in connection with the recent terrorist attack in Vienna that left four dead and 22 injured.
The attacker, a 20-year-old Austrian-North Macedonian citizen named Kojtim Faizullah, was killed by police on Monday night following the terrorist attack. He was reportedly convicted under a law that punishes membership in terrorist organizations and had been released from prison less than a year ago.
After the attack, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described it as an "Islamist terrorist attack" and said that "we will defend our fundamental values, our way of life and our democracy."
He also called on European countries to take "more decisive action against terrorism."
"We must give everyone who wants to integrate the opportunity to integrate, but at the same time we must make it clear that our core values are non-negotiable," he said.
According to the report, Swiss police also arrested two men near Zurich on Tuesday in an investigation into a possible connection to the attack.
The Austrian capital has previously been spared the deadly militant attacks that have hit Paris, London, Berlin and Brussels in recent years. Austria is part of the US-led global coalition to defeat ISIS, which was formed in 2014. ISIS has reportedly claimed responsibility for the recent attack in Vienna.
The terrorist attack in Vienna follows recent deadly attacks by Islamist extremists in the French cities of Nice and Paris.
The attack drew reactions from US and European officials, including President Trump. The US president described the attack as “another vile act of terrorism in Europe” in a tweet on Monday evening, November 3, and wrote: “We pray for the people of Vienna after another vile act of terrorism in Europe.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also tweeted his sincere condolences to the families of those killed and injured in the terrorist attack in Vienna, and "strongly condemned" the attack.
Source: Voice of America
