The Vienna terrorist participated in a de-radicalization program – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

Shots were fired at several locations in the Austrian capital, Vienna Monday night, and at least four people were killed. Three people are critically injured in hospital.

The suspected perpetrator was shot and killed by police after nine minutes. Kujtim Fejzulai is described as a 20-year-old IS sympathizer with a background from Northern Macedonia.

He was recently imprisoned for trying to join IS.

– He was released earlier because he had been involved in a de-radicalization program. He was ready to become more integrated into society, says Interior Minister Karl Nehammer

IS claims to be behind it

The extremist group IS claims in a message on social media that they are behind the attack.

In the statement from the group’s propaganda channel Amaq on the messaging service Telegram, they do not present any evidence for the claim.

Police in Austria have arrested 14 people, but say they believe there was only one attacker.

Fejzulai has both North Macedonian and Austrian citizenship and was born in Mödling, a small town south of Vienna.

The police entered the 20-year-old’s apartment on Tuesday night, where material linking him to IS was found.

“It is clear that the attacker, despite all the external signs of having been integrated into society, was the exact opposite,” said Nehammer.

Two arrested in Switzerland

Swiss special police arrested the two men in Winterthur in coordination with Austrian authorities, police in Zurich say.

Switzerland’s Minister of Justice Karin Keller-Sutter says the two have met the 20-year-old who was shot and killed by the police during yesterday’s attack.

– The three men have met each other, she said, but would not say more about the case, writes St. Galler Tagblatt.

Both Austrian and Swiss police are now investigating what kind of contact there has been between the men.