In more shocking news from Europe, suspects armed with ‘rifles’ have reportedly launched simultaneous assaults at six locations in the Austrian capital Vienna.
At least one person is confirmed dead with reports of multiple other fatalities now circulating according to local police.
The Austrian Interior Minister, Karl Nehammer has already said he sees the incident(s) as an “apparent terror attack”.
One of the suspected terrorists has been killed by police as law enforcement in the city work to regain control of the affected areas.
An undisclosed number of people have been taken to local hospitals according to local Austrian broadcaster ORF.
“At the moment I can confirm we believe this is an apparent terror attack,” Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told the same news channel.
Taking to Twitter soon after the news broke, French president Emmanuel Macron wrote that Europe must not “give up” continuing “We the French people share the shock and grief of the Austrian people, struck this evening by an attack in the heart of their capital, Vienna. After France, a friend of ours is attacked. This is our Europe. Our enemies must know who they are dealing with,” Macron said.
Early reports say that a synagogue was on the same street as one of the locations at which shooting was reported, and that one of the police officers guarding the facility was counted among the injured.
In recent days a series of “Islamist terrorist” attacks have taken place according to the French president, with three people killed in a knife attack at a church in Nice, France, and a week earlier a French teacher decapitated in an attack near the French capital Paris.