Austrian authorities say the stabbing of six people that left a 14-year-old boy dead was carried out by a man with possible connections to the Islamic State group who appeared to have acted alone
Suspect in fatal stabbing in Austria had an ‘Islamic terror motive,’ officials sayBy STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEINAssociated PressThe Associated PressVIENNA
VIENNA (AP) — Austrian authorities said the stabbing of six people that left a 14-year-old boy dead was carried out by a man with possible connections to the Islamic State group who appeared to have acted alone.
The suspect, a 23-year-old Syrian, was arrested after the attack, which took place on Saturday afternoon in the center of the southern city of Villach, close to the main square. Police said he used a folding knife. Those wounded were two 15-year-old boys and men aged 28, 32 and 36. Two were seriously wounded and two others are also still receiving hospital treatment, while one was treated for minor injuries.
“This is an Islamist attack with an IS connection by an attacker who radicalized himself within a very short time via the internet,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told reporters in Villach Sunday.
State Gov. Peter Kaiser thanked a 42-year-old man, also a Syrian, working for a food delivery company who drove toward the suspect and helped prevent the situation from getting worse. “This shows how closely terrorist evil but also human good can be united in one and the same nationality,” he said.
As the focus shifted to migration and asylum-seekers, Karner said that it will ultimately be necessary to “carry out a mass screening without cause, because this assassin was not conspicuous.”
He did not elaborate on his plans. It was unclear how long the suspect had been in Austria, although authorities said he had a residence permit. Austria’s far-right leader Herbert Kickl, whose party won a national election four months ago, called for “a rigorous crackdown on asylum” in the wake of the attack.
On Sunday, Kickl said that since all other parties in Austria had failed to implement the necessary asylum restrictions, it is crucial for his party to control the Interior Ministry — which is in charge of asylum and migration — in any future government.
Last week, coalition talks in Austria collapsed for a second time when Kickl’s Freedom Party and the conservative People’s Party were unable to agree on who would oversee the Interior Ministry.
The mayor of Villach, Günther Albel, said the attack was a “stab in the heart of the city.”
State police director Michaela Kohlweiss said police searched his apartment with sniffer dogs and found IS flags on the walls. No weapons or dangerous objects were found, but police seized mobile telephones.
“The current picture is that of a lone perpetrator,” Kohlweiss said. Police presence will be increased in the streets of Villach and at events in the weeks ahead, Kohlweiss added.
A second deadly attack in Austria
This marks the second deadly extremist attack in Austria in recent years. In November 2020, a man who had previously attempted to join the Islamic State group carried out a rampage in Vienna, armed with an automatic rifle and a fake explosive vest, killing four people before being fatally shot by police.
Last August, authorities foiled an attack on Taylor Swift shows in Vienna that was inspired by the Islamic State group.
The Islamic Religious Community in Austria expressed sympathies to the victims and their families in a statement on Sunday and said that it is “fully committed to peaceful and respectful coexistence.” The President of the Islamic Religious Community, Ümit Vural, added that the attack “has nothing in common with the true values of our faith.”
Residents began placing candles at the site of the attack in the city of about 60,000 inhabitants. A group of young people who knew the boy who died in attack gathered at the crime scene on Sunday morning to mourn and tearfully light candles, local media reported.
President Alexander Van der Bellen called the attack “horrific.”
“No words can undo the suffering, the horror, the fear. My thoughts are with the family of the deceased victim and the injured,” he posted on X.
The Free Syrian Community of Austria issued a statement on Facebook distancing itself from the attack and expressing its deepest condolences to the victims’ families. “We all had to flee Syria, our home country, because we were no longer safe there — no one left their country voluntarily. We are grateful to have found asylum and protection in Austria,” the association said.
“Anyone who causes strife and disturbs the peace of society does not represent the Syrians who have sought and received protection here,” the statement concluded.
Calls to strengthen migration rules
Kickl wrote on X Saturday that he is “appalled by the horrific act in Villach.”
“At the same time, I am angry — angry at those politicians who have allowed stabbings, rapes, gang wars and other capital crimes to become the order of the day in Austria. This is a first-class failure of the system, for which a young man in Villach has now had to pay with his life,” Kickl said.
“From Austria to the EU — the wrong rules are in force everywhere. Nobody is allowed to challenge them, everything is declared sacrosanct,” he said, adding that his party had outlined what he viewed as necessary changes to immigration laws in its election platform.
Conservative party leader Christian Stocker said on X that the attacker “must be brought to justice and be punished with the full force of the law.”
“We all want to live in a safe Austria,” he said, adding that this means political measures need to be taken to avoid such acts of horror in the future.
The leader of the Social Democrats, Andreas Babler, said, “Crimes like this one simply should not happen in our society.”
