Attack in Austria: What happened during the attacks in Vienna?

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20 minutes

The two young Swiss men arrested Tuesday near Zurich, in northern Switzerland, "know" the attacker from Vienna, the Federal Ministry of Justice said on Tuesday evening.

"They know each other and now we are investigating how they were in contact," said Philipp Schwander, spokesman for the ministry, the day after the attack in Vienna, having killed at least four people.

Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter spoke about the case during a panel discussion organized by the regional daily

St. Galler Tagblatt

.

According to the latter, the minister indicated that "the three men also met physically".

A quote that the spokesperson could not confirm.

Still, according to the daily, the minister also said that the two young people were “colleagues” of the Vienna striker, but without elaborating.

Aged 18 and 24

The two young people, 18 and 24 years old "were arrested by a special unit in Winterthur (not far from Zurich) on Tuesday afternoon in coordination with the Austrian authorities," Zurich cantonal police said in a statement.

At the origin of the attack which took place Monday evening in the heart of the Austrian capital, near an important synagogue and the Opera, a 20-year-old "sympathizer" of the jihadist group Islamic State who had tried to join Syria.

Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack on Tuesday afternoon.

Originally from North Macedonia, the assailant, killed Monday evening by the police, was sentenced in 2019 to prison in Austria but he was released early.

"Shedding light" on the involvement of two Swiss

"The main objective is to shed light" on their possible involvement, said the Zurich cantonal police, which works in close collaboration with the Swiss federal police and the Austrian police.

The Confederation's Intelligence Service (SRC) told AFP that it “does not currently have any concrete clues concerning possible attacks in Switzerland”.

Still according to the same source, the terrorist threat "remains high" in Switzerland.

This level was declared in 2015 after the attacks in France.

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  • Terrorist attack

  • Vienna (Austria)

  • Austria

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