GETTY FILE PIC Austrian Police arrested the nine Iraqi men after months of searching (not pictured)

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The nine men, who are all seeking asylum in Austria, had travelled to Vienna for New Year’s Eve celebrations where the assault took place. There they allegedly drugged the woman and dragged her to nearby apartment block before carrying out the brutal attack.

The arrests were made in Austria after DNA evidence and CCTV footage was used to successfully build a case against the alleged rapists. It comes as Austria's anti-immigrant Freedom Party desperately attempts to overturn the result of June's presidential election after a re-run was ordered by a judge when evidence showed "irregularities" in the count.

GETTY FILE PIC Officers used DNA evidence and CCTV footage to find the alleged attackers (not pictured)

Police were called on January 1 when the woman awoke to discover she had been the victim of a vile sex attack. But the arrests were made eight months later following a "protracted and difficult" investigation. The victim had travelled to Vienna from Lower Saxony to see a friend for New Year’s celebrations.

GETTY Vienna, where the alleged attack took place

A police spokesperson said: "There is no doubt about the gang rape according to the biological traces. “The investigations were difficult and protracted. On the trail of the suspects, investigators came by DNA material, interviews with witnesses and images from surveillance cameras.” The attackers – aged between 21 and 47 – are alleged to have snatched the woman from Vienna’s central Schwedenplatz and assaulted her in an apartment where two of the suspects lived, between 2am and 6am.

Migrants clash with police across Europe Wed, February 15, 2017 Migrants clash with each other in over crowded camps across Europe. Play slideshow EPA 1 of 107 Moroccan Police look at immigrants trying to jump the six-meter-high fence in Ceuta, Spanish enclave on the north of Africa, 09 December 2016.