Slovakia transmitted information to Austria about an attempt by a terrorist who staged an armed attack on November 2 in Vienna to buy ammunition. This was announced by Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer, reports Reuters.
According to him, the Slovak intelligence has informed the Austrian colleagues, but the information was lost for some reason. As noted, the data on the supporter of the Islamists came back in July 2020, but the minister is not sure that they were further worked with as needed.
The minister said that the failure in cooperation with Slovakia will be studied by an independent commission. Nehammer believes that it could be caused by the harm caused to the Austrian intelligence by the previous bosses.
Nehammer also said that the terrorist acted alone.
Earlier it became known that the terrorist traveled to neighboring Slovakia for cartridges for firearms. According to security officials, the offender tried to buy ammunition for the Kalashnikov assault rifle, but he failed to do so, as he was required to show a weapon permit.
The shooting in the Austrian capital began on the evening of November 2: the first shots were fired at about 20:00 local time (22:00 Moscow time) at the synagogue in the city center. It was reported that almost simultaneously with this, several more people opened fire in other places. Later it became known that the security forces managed to shoot one attacker after just nine minutes, others are being sought.
According to media reports, the eliminated intruder is a 20-year-old native of Vienna, Curtin S. He has Albanian roots, although his parents are from North Macedonia. He also holds dual Macedonian-Austrian citizenship. It is reported that the young man was known to intelligence: he was one of 90 Austrian Islamists who wanted to go to fight in Syria. At the same time, the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia) claimed responsibility for what had happened, without providing any evidence.
According to the latest data, four people became victims of the attack, 22 people were injured.
