As per the report published in Austrian daily Kronen Zeitung, the ISIS terrorist identified as Abu Dagnah Al-Albany, the man behind the attack that took place on November 2 across central Vienna, wanted to cause a bloodbath of the Catholic Youth group in Ruprechtskirche during the prayer time in the evening. He had failed as the door was locked by the timer.
Karl Nehammer, the Interior Minister, is working on increasing the security at the local churches for the Christmas season.
The main target was the Catholic group at the church
When the Catholic Group was holding a non-public prayer hour in the Ruprecht Church, the terrorist wanted to attack with an assault rifle. However, as the gates of the church were locked, he failed. The WEGA agents shot him dead a few moments later in front of the church. The shocked women and children were interviewed by the investigation team “Investigative Group 2 November”.
The authorities have announced that they will release the interim report of the Commission detailing the breakdown of the investigation carried out by anti-terror forces before Christmas.
Attack details provided by Archdiocese official
Michael Prüller, the spokesman of the Vienna Archdiocese, detailed the situation during the attack. When the shots were fired, 17 people present in the church reacted with the presence of mind and hid after switching off the lights. They stayed hidden until 2:30 AM on Tuesday until the police gave them the all-clear so that they could go home.
The Vienna Attack
On November 2, the ISIS terrorist had opened fire across Vienna. As per Vienna Police, at around 8 PM local time, several shots were fired at a busy street in the city centre. The attack happened at six locations. Three, including the attacker, were killed. On November 3, the Vienna authorities confirmed that the attacker was affiliated with the terrorist organization ISIS.
Further investigation revealed that he was released early on terror charges in 2019. At that time, he defended himself by claiming that he went to the ‘wrong mosque’. On November 6, Austria announced that they are shutting down radical mosques that were visited frequently by the terrorist.
