German police search homes of four suspected of ties to Vienna attacker

Berlin, November 6

German police on Friday searched the homes and businesses of four people believed to have had ties to the man who went on a deadly rampage in Vienna this week, officials said.

The 20-year-old convicted jihadist who killed four people on Monday was shot dead by police within nine minutes of opening fire on bystanders and bars. He was later identified as Kujtim Fejzulai, a native of Vienna.

"There is no initial suspicion that the four people affected by today's measures took part in the attack but there are believed to have been links with the suspected attacker," Germany's BKA criminal police said on Twitter.

The BKA said a federal judge had issued search warrants for the homes and businesses in the German towns of Osnabrueck, Kassel and in the district of Pinneberg near Hamburg after the Austrian judiciary transferred some of its findings on the attack to German prosecutors.

The suspects had had contact with Fejzulai online and had met him in person, Germany's interior ministry said. Nobody was arrested as part of Friday's searches, it added.

Austrian authorities have arrested 15 people who interior ministry officials said were part of the radical Islamist scene.

Switzerland has also arrested two men in connection with the attack. Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said on Thursday Austria was in close contact with another unspecified country in its investigation. - Reuters