The man accused of stabbing six people in southern Austria in broad daylight, killing a 14-year-old boy, was motivated by “Islamic terrorism”, officials have said.
The suspect, a 23-year-old Syrian man, was arrested after the attack in the city of Villach on Saturday. Five people were injured, two of them seriously.
Speaking in Villach on Sunday, interior minister Gerhard Karner said: “This is an Islamist attack with an IS (Islamic State) connection by an attacker who radicalised himself within a very short time via the internet online.”
According to state police director Michaela Kohlweiss, police searched the suspect’s apartment with sniffer dogs and found IS flags on the walls.
No weapons or dangerous objects were found, she added but police seized mobile telephones.
Police are investigating whether the suspect had any accomplices, but Ms Kohlweiss said: “The current picture is that of a lone perpetrator.”
She said there will be an increased police presence in Villach and at events in the weeks ahead.
The attacker used a folding knife, Ms Kohlweiss said.
Those injured are two 15-year-old boys and three men aged 28, 32 and 36. Four of them are receiving hospital treatment and one is being treated for minor injuries.
The mayor of Villach, Gunther Albel, said the attack was a “stab in the heart of the city”.
As the focus shifted to migration and asylum-seekers, Mr Karner said it will ultimately be necessary to “carry out a mass screening without cause because this assassin was not conspicuous”.
He did not elaborate, but 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.
State governor Peter Kaiser thanked a 42-year-old man, also a Syrian, working for a food delivery company who drove towards the suspect and helped prevent the situation from worsening.
“This shows how closely terrorist evil but also human good can be united in one and the same nationality,” he said.
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen called the attack “horrific”.
He said on social media site X: “No words can undo the suffering, the horror, the fear. My thoughts are with the family of the deceased victim and the injured.”
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, it said. “We are grateful to have found asylum and protection in Austria.
“Finally, we would like to emphasise: Anyone who causes strife and disturbs the peace of society does not represent the Syrians who have sought and received protection here.”
It was the second deadly jihadi 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.
