European Observatory to Combat Radicalization

Islamic State group claims responsibility for Vienna terrorist attack, without providing evidence

France24 ـ The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Tuesday for an attack in Vienna that killed at least four people, without providing evidence, in a statement from the group’s Amaq News Agency posted on Telegram.The group’s statement was accompanied by a picture of a bearded man, named “Abu Dagnah Al-Albany”, saying he attacked crowds in central Vienna on Monday with a gun and a machine gun, before he was killed himself by Austrian police.

The gunman had been released from jail less than a year ago.An elderly man and woman, a young passer-by and a waitress were killed, and 22 people including a policeman were wounded, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told a news conference. Vienna’s mayor said three people were still in critical condition.In a televised address, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told Austrians: “This is not a conflict between Christians and Muslims or between Austrians and migrants. No, this is a fight between the many people who believe in peace and the few [who oppose it]. It is a fight between civilisation and barbarism.”

The attack followed shortly after deadly assaults by lone Islamist attackers in Nice and Paris, where some Muslims have been angered by publication of satirical caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad.In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron went to the Austrian Embassy to write a message of condolence in German that read: “In joy and in sorrow, we will remain united.”