Five monks have been injured, one seriously, during a robbery at a monastery church in a suburb of Vienna, Austrian police have said.

Two suspects fled the scene after ambushing the church in the northern suburb of Floridsdorf at about 1.30pm local time (12.30 GMT). They tied the monks up and held them for a number of hours, police said on Thursday.

The victims were found by officers at 4.17pm.

“As far as we know so far, at least one of the suspects demanded cash and valuables. The exact motive is not yet known. But we are ruling out a possible terrorist motive,” the police said, adding that a large-scale manhunt had been launched to find the suspects.

In a separate incident earlier on Thursday, Vienna’s St Stephen’s Cathedral was evacuated after a bomb scare, but reopened about an hour later when no explosives were found.