A person accused of killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 5 different individuals in a stabbing assault in Austria was motivated by “Islamic terrorism”, say authorities.
The victims, which included two 15-year-old boys and three males aged 28, 32 and 36, had been attacked with a folding knife within the southern metropolis of Villach on Saturday. 4 of them are receiving hospital remedy and one is being handled for minor accidents.
A 23-year-old Syrian was arrested after the rampage which is being handled as an “Islamic terror incident”.
Austria‘s inside minister Gerhard Karner stated the suspect had alleged ties to the Islamic State group and radicalised himself on-line inside a really brief time interval.
IS flags had been found on the partitions of the suspect’s house throughout a search, in accordance with police.
Cell phones had been seized however no weapons or harmful objects had been discovered, they added.
Officers are trying into whether or not he had any accomplices however in the mean time they imagine he was a “lone perpetrator”.
In November 2020, four people were killed by a gunman within the capital Vienna who was then fatally shot by police. The attacker, who had an computerized rifle and a pretend explosive vest, had beforehand tried to affix Islamic State earlier than finishing up his rampage.
Police cordoned off the realm following the rampage. Pic: AP
‘No phrases can undo the struggling’
Talking concerning the assault in Villach, Mr Karner instructed reporters that he felt “anger about an Islamist attacker who indiscriminately stabbed harmless individuals right here on this metropolis”.
Austria’s president Alexander Van der Bellen known as the assault “horrific”, saying on X that “no phrases can undo the struggling, the horror, the worry”.
Pic: AP
Additionally, far-right chief Herbert Kickl, whose Freedom Celebration of Austria received a nationwide election 4 months in the past, known as for “a rigorous crackdown on asylum” within the wake of the assault.
Mr Karner stated it’ll in the end be essential to “perform a mass screening with out trigger as a result of this murderer was not conspicuous”.
Reward for Syrian helper
In the meantime, a 42-year-old Syrian man helped forestall the state of affairs from getting worse by driving in the direction of the suspect.
The person, who labored for a meals supply firm, was thanked by state governor Peter Kaiser.
Austrian inside minister Gerhard Karner speaks at a information convention in Villach. Pic: Reuters
“This exhibits how carefully terrorist evil but in addition human good could be united in a single and the identical nationality,” Mr Kaiser stated.
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The Free Syrian Neighborhood of Austria has distanced itself from the assault and expressed its deepest condolences to the victims’ households.
‘Anybody who causes strife doesn’t characterize Syrians’
In an announcement on Fb, it wrote: “All of us needed to flee Syria, our house nation, as a result of we had been not secure there – no-one left their nation voluntarily. We’re grateful to have discovered asylum and safety in Austria.
“Lastly, we wish to emphasise: Anybody who causes strife and disturbs the peace of society doesn’t characterize the Syrians who’ve sought and acquired safety right here.”
