German police say raiding flats, offices over Vienna attack

Police vehicles block a street at Schwedenplatz on November 3, 2020, at one of the areas of the multiple shootings that occurred on the eve in the center of Vienna, Austria. – A huge manhunt was underway November 3, 2020, after gunmen opened fire at multiple locations across central Vienna, killing at least three people and wounding several more in what the Austrian Chancellor described as a “repulsive terror attack”. One of the suspected killers, identified as an Islamic State group sympathizer, was shot dead by police who said they were searching for at least one more assailant still at large. (Photo by ALEX HALADA / AFP)

BERLIN — German police said Friday they are raiding apartments and offices over possible links to the Austrian Islamic State sympathizer who went on a deadly gun rampage in central Vienna.

The sites in Osnabrueck, Kassel as well as in the Pinneberg area that were searched belong to four people, who “are not believed to be involved in the attack,” said the federal criminal agency (BKA).

“But there may be links to the alleged assassin,” it added on Twitter.

The searches were carried out on a request from Austrian authorities, the BKA added.

The gunman, identified as 20-year-old dual Austrian-Macedonian national Kujtim Fejzulai, was killed by police after going on a shooting spree in Vienna on Monday evening that left four people dead.

Austrian police detained 14 people in the wake of the shooting, the first major attack in the country for decades, and the first blamed on a jihadist.

Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine had reported earlier this week that the Vienna attacker had made contact with German Islamists during an attempt to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group.

The investigation has also led to Switzerland, where prosecutors have confirmed that two Swiss men aged 18 and 24 who were arrested Wednesday had already been the targets of criminal cases over terrorism offenses.