Karl Nehammer Federal Minister of the Interior of Austria described the incident as a terror attack and said that one attacker had died in the Austrian capital.
Another attacker was “on the run”, he said. A large-scale security operation is underway.
The incident took place near the central Schwedenplatz square.
Police have urged people to avoid the area and not to take public transport.
Police in the Austrian capital, Vienna, were deployed in the city centre following reports of multiple shootings near a synagogue.
The authorities confirmed that several people have died after exchanges of gunfire. A police officer is among the injured.
The shooting happened on Schwedenplatz, a square located opposite the Carmelite Quarter, where several synagogues are located.
There is believed to have been several shooters spread over 6 locations.
About 50 shots were fired during the incident which took place near a synagogue. Oskar Deutsch, President of the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG), which is the body that represents Vienna’s Orthodox Jewish community, said it was too early to determine “if the synagogue was the target”.
“There was shooting in the immediate vicinity of the city temple. All parishioners were asked not to enter public streets and to remain in closed rooms until the all-clear from the security authorities, who worked with the IKG security department,” he added.
Deutsch saidthat both the synagogue in Seitenstettengasse and an office building at the same address were closed at the time police said shots were fired.
The incident came just hours before Austria was set to go into a partial coronavirus lockdown.
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One man was seen lying on the ground at the scene of the incident where police are investigating, Heute reported. Reuters has reported that multiple people are injured.
The Austrian Ministry of the Interior has said the incident may have been a terrorist attack. One perpetrator is said to have been killed, others may be on the run, a ministry spokesperson told Heute.
This is a breaking news story, our reporters will update it as they verify any information.
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