Terrorism left dozens dead in Austria and Afghanistan on Monday. Politicians must be both staunch and responsible as they face it
Until a few weeks ago, the cloud that spread across the world in the spring had perhaps displaced another in most people’s minds. Yet as the second wave of the pandemic strikes Europe, an older horror is resurging too. Monday’s deadly terrorist attack in Vienna killed four people and wounded 22. It followed the beheading of the French teacher Samuel Paty by a man angered that he had shown pupils caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, and a knife attack at a church in Nice last week that claimed three lives. In the wake of the Austrian attack, the UK raised its terrorism threat level to severe, its second highest level, indicating that an attack is judged highly likely. The home secretary, Priti Patel, described the decision by the independent Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre as a precautionary measure, rather than a response to specific information.
Monday’s attack took place in the last few hours before Austria reentered lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19. Police shot dead a gunman, but are still determining whether he acted alone or with others. They have identified the 20-year-old man as a citizen of both North Macedonia and Austria, who had been released early from prison after his conviction for membership of Islamic State.
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