HARD AS NAILS
Vienna shooting: Hero Turkish MMA fighters wounded by ISIS gunman after carrying elderly woman and injured cop to safety
TWO hero Turkish MMA fighters were wounded while carrying an elderly woman and an injured cop to safety when an ISIS gunman opened fire in Vienna.
A gunman opened fire on drinkers sitting in beer gardens near the city’s main synagogue on the Seitenstettengasse last night.
⚠️ Follow the latest updates on the Vienna shooting here
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The next hour saw violence and bloodshed as police deployed every cop they could to at least six crime scenes amid early reports of multiple gunmen.
The gunman, who was armed with an assault rifle and wearing a fake bomb vest, was shot dead as four people were killed and a further 22 wounded.
Pals Recep Tayyip Gultekin and Mikail Ozer were in the city centre when they heard gunshots.
They pair ran in the direction of danger and saw the gunman shooting.
Recep carried an injured woman to a restaurant to safety before he was shot by the gunman.
Recep told Turkish news channel : "When I turned around, the terrorist took cover at me, we came eye to eye while shooting, and the moment I met that eye, there was no fear or doubt in me.
"There, with the reflex given to me by my brain, I rolled on the ground and ran, zigzag running and ran downstairs and went to the police building and told about what happened."
Both men then went to the police station to report what happened but then they saw an injured cop - who they carried into the ambulance 200 metres away.
What we know so far:
- The attack was carried out in six locations across Vienna's city centre
- Four dead - two women and two men
- 22 injured - six are fighting for life and a police officer who was injured is in stable condition
- One gunman shot dead as interior minister believes there is no indication of another attacker
- Dead gunman named as ISIS supporter Kujtim Fejzulai
- Fejzulai reportedly announced the attack on Instagram and had previously been jailed for trying to go Syria
- Two Turkish MMA fighters carried a woman and an injured cop to safety
They also helped escort an elderly woman to a safe location amid the chaos.
Recep, who suffered from a gunshot wound in his foot, refused to seek medical help.
He told Turkish news agency : "I didn’t want to go to the hospital because the wound on my foot wasn’t that big.
"I didn’t want to be a burden because I thought there would be many injuries due to the conflict."
Austria's chancellor condemned it as a "hideous terrorist attack" as officials ordered residents to stay indoors.
Police are now attempting to piece together what happened and track down the rest of the attackers.
Austria's interior minister Karl Nehammer described the dead suspect as an "ISIS sympathiser" and he said the evidence gathered so far shows no indication there was a second attacker.
However, earlier reports suggested there was more than one gunman.
Mr Nehammer said 14 arrests have been made in connection to the attacks.
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Special forces from neighbouring countries were deployed to help in the operation and the suspect's home had been searched and videos had been seized.
One of the suspects is said to have announced the attack on Instagram and pledged allegiance to ISIS leader "The Professor" Abdullah Qardash, reports .
The gunman - named as Kujtim Fejzulai - is understood to be a 20-year-old dual citizen of Austrian and North Macedonian who had previously been jailed for trying to travel to Syria.
The Austrian government confirmed that the suspected Vienna attacker had previously been sentenced to 22 months in prison in April 2019.
Interior minister Mr Nehammer said the terrorist had been released early due to his young age, reports Reuters.
Mr Nehammer said during a press conference this afternoon that the attacker had given the outward impression of integrating while doing the opposite.
Fejzulai was reportedly being monitored by security services but was not considering capable of mounting a domestic attack, the editor of the weekly Falter newspaper Florian Klenk said.
"We experienced an attack yesterday evening from at least one Islamist terrorist," Mr Nehammer said.
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Four civilians - two women and two men - were killed in the violence, and one police officer was critically injured in a shootout with the terrorists.
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Six victims of the attack in Vienna are in a critical, life-threatening condition.
People in Vienna were urged to stay at home if possible on Tuesday and children did not have to go to school.
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