Vienna terror attack: Austria was warned about the attacker, says minister

In a big revelation, Austria's interior minister said on Wednesday that Austria's domestic intelligence service had received warning that the Islamic State sympathiser wanted to procure ammunition. The man later went on to carry out a deadly shooting in Vienna. Austria's interior minister said that the Austrian domestic intelligence had received the warning from neighbouring Slovakia.

"In the last few hours information has come to light that some time prior to the terror attack, Slovakian intelligence informed (Austria's domestic intelligence service) the BVT about the attacker. The information was that he wanted to get ammunition," Karl Nehammer told a press conference.

Four people were killed when Kujtim Fejzulai, described as a 20-year-old IS sympathiser who had spent time in prison, opened fire with a Kalashnikov in a busy area of the Austrian capital the day before the country went into a new coronavirus lockdown.

Police shot the gunman dead on Monday and later swooped on 18 different addresses and made 14 arrests as they looked for possible accomplices and sought to determine if he had acted alone. 

The Vienna terror attack has been claimed by Islamic State (IS). It said on Tuesday that "soldier of the caliphate" was responsible for the carnage, according to its propaganda agency. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called for a European response to "political Islam".

(With AFP inputs)