Antwerp tightens security in Jewish quarter after deadly Vienna shootout

Security has been tightened in Antwerp’s Jewish quarter following a deadly shootout in Vienna which took place near a synagogue and has been described as a terror attack.

A spokesperson for Mayor Bart De Wever confirmed that additional security details had been deployed in the area near the train station inhabited by a tight-knit ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.

The decision comes after several gunmen opened fire in different locations in central Vienna in a suspected terror attack in which at least four people were killed and which  Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described as “repulsive.”

“Our police will act decisively against the perpetrators of this repulsive terror attack,” Kurz tweeted.

The initial shooting began near a synagogue in the centre of the Austrian capital but, since it was closed at the time the attack began, it remains unclear whether it was a target.

In a press conference, Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer described the dead attacker as a “radicalised person who felt close to [the Islamic State]” terror group, local media reports.

Counter-terrorism authorities in Belgium said that they would not raise the threat alert level for the Jewish community in Belgium, which remains at level 3/4, while that for the rest of Belgium is still at 2/4.

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