Austria shuts two mosques attended by Vienna attacker

VIENNA: The Austrian government ordered the closure on Friday of two mosques in the capital, Vienna, frequented by the gunman who shot dead four people in the city centre earlier in the week.

The shooting on Monday was Austria’s first major attack in decades. The attacker was later identified as 20-year-old Kujtim Fejzulai, who was killed by police. 

Integration Minister Susanne Raab told a press conference that the government’s religious affairs office “was informed by the interior ministry that Monday’s attacker, since his release from prison, had repeatedly visited two Vienna mosques”.

The two mosques are in Vienna’s western suburbs, one called the Melit Ibrahim mosque in the Ottakring district and the other being the Tewhid mosque in the Meidling area.