Shafaq news/ At least four victims were killed and 15 others injured in a series of shootings that started near the Stadttempel synagogue in central Vienna on Monday night, which Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said were connected to the ISIS group.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on twitter “In these terrible hours when Vienna has become the target of terrorist violence, my thoughts are with the people there and the security forces facing the danger. We Germans stand by our Austrian friends in sympathy and solidarity. The fight against Islamist terror is our common fight.”

At a prior press conference Monday, Nehammer described it as the “most difficult day Austria has had in many years.”

Nehammer said the attack was an “assault” on Austria’s values and “an utterly inept attempt to weaken or divide our democratic society.”