“We extend our deepest condolences & sympathies to families of victims & wish speedy recovery to those injured,” the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Twitter.

“Pakistan reiterates its condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” they added.

Late last night, a gunfire incident left at least two people, including an attacker, dead in central Vienna, with police saying the injured included an officer.

The attack was carried out by “several suspects armed with rifles”, and police added that there had been “six different shooting locations”.

Gunshots were fired at around 8pm local time (1900 GMT), beginning at the Seitenstettengasse in the city’s centrally-located first district.

The shooting began just hours before Austria was to reimpose a fresh lockdown to try to slow the spread of coronavirus, with restaurants and bars packed as people enjoyed a final night of relative freedom.

Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told public broadcaster ORF that the incident “appeared to be a terrorist attack” and urged Viennese to remain in their homes.

Nehammer repeated police appeals to residents to keep away from all public places or public transport, as frequent sirens and helicopters could be heard in the city centre as emergency services responded to the incident.

An AFP photographer said large numbers of police were guarding an area near the city’s world-famous opera house.

The president of Vienna’s Jewish community Oskar Deutsch said shots were fired “in the immediate vicinity” of the Stadttempel synagogue but added that it was currently unknown whether the worship place itself had been the target of an attack.

The synagogue and office buildings at the same address had been closed at the time of the attack, he added.

“It sounded like firecrackers, then we realised it was shots,” said one eyewitness quoted by public broadcaster ORF.

A shooter had “shot wildly with an automatic weapon” before the police arrived and opened fire, the witness added.

Austria had until now been spared the sort of major attacks that have hit other European countries.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that “we French share the shock and sorrow of the Austrian people”.

“After France, it’s a friendly nation that has been attacked,” he added, referring to the killing on Thursday of three people by a knife-armed attacker in southern city Nice and the beheading of a schoolteacher by a suspected extremist outside Paris several days before.

EU Council chief Charles Michel tweeted that the bloc “strongly condemns this cowardly act”.

And Germany’s foreign ministry tweeted that the reports from Austria were “horrifying and disturbing”.

“We can’t give in to hatred that is aimed at dividing our societies,” the ministry added

Czech police said they had started random checks on the border with Austria.

“Police are carrying out random checks of vehicles and passengers on border crossings with Austria as a preventive measure in relation to the terror attack in Vienna,” Czech police tweeted.

Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said in a tweet Czech police were in touch with Austrian colleagues following the “dreadful news from Vienna”.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also “strongly condemned” the shootings.

“There is no room for hatred and violence in our common European home,” he said on Twitter in Italian and German.

Germany’s foreign ministry said Monday that “we cannot give in to hate that is supposed to divide our societies” following shootings in Austrian capital Vienna that left two dead, including one attacker, and several injured.

“Even if we can’t yet foresee the extent of the terror, our thoughts are with the wounded and the victims in these difficult hours,” the ministry wrote on Twitter, calling the news from neighbouring Austria “horrifying and disturbing”.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte “strongly condemned” the shootings in Vienna on Monday in which at least two people including one attacker died and several more were injured.

“There is no room for hatred and violence in our common European home,” he said on Twitter in Italian and German.

Italy’s foreign minister Luigi Di Maio also tweeted that “Europe must react” following the “cowardly attack”.

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed Europe would not bow to terrorists following the shootings in Vienna on Monday in which at least two people including one attacker died and several more were injured.

“We French share the shock and sorrow of the Austrian people following the attack in Vienna,” Macron tweeted in both French and German.

“After France, it is a friendly nation that has been attacked. This is our Europe. Our enemies must know who they’re dealing with. We will concede nothing.”

Czech police said they had started random checks on the border with Austria following Monday’s attack near a Vienna synagogue that had left at least two dead and several injured.

“Police are carrying out random checks of vehicles and passengers on border crossings with Austria as a preventive measure in relation to the terror attack in Vienna,” Czech police tweeted.

Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said in a tweet Czech police were in touch with Austrian colleagues following the “dreadful news from Vienna”.

European Union chief Charles Michel slammed the shootings in Vienna on Monday in which at least two people including one attacker died and several more were injured as “cowardly”.

Europe “strongly condemns this cowardly act that violates life and our human values,” European Council chief Michel tweeted.

Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said late Monday that a shooting in central Vienna near a major synagogue appeared to be a terrorist attack and was ongoing.

“It appears to be a terror attack” with several people injured and several attackers involved, Nehammer told public broadcaster ORF.

Frequent sirens could be heard in central Vienna as emergency services responded to the incident.

Multiple gunshots were heard in central Vienna on Monday evening, as police said the location of the incident was close to a major synagogue.

Police urged residents to keep away from all public places or public transport.

One attacker was “dead” and another “on the run”, while one police officer had been seriously injured, Austria’s interior ministry said according to news agency APA.

The president of Vienna’s Jewish community Oskar Deutsch said that shots had been fired “in the immediate vicinity” of the Stadttempel synagogue but added that it was currently unknown whether the synagogue itself had been the target of an attack.

He said that the synagogue and office buildings at the same address had been closed at the time of the attack.

“It sounded like firecrackers, then we realised it was shots,” said one eyewitness quoted by public broadcaster ORF.

A shooter had “shot wildly with an automatic weapon” before the police arrived and opened fire, the witness added.