A Syrian asylum seeker who the Austrian authorities mentioned killed an adolescent and wounded 5 different folks in a knife assault in Villach, Austria, was impressed by the Islamic State militant group, officers mentioned on Sunday.
The person, who was detained after the assault on Saturday, had grow to be radicalized on-line, mentioned Austria’s inside minister, Gerhard Karner. The police mentioned they believed that the victims have been chosen at random.
The suspect is 23 years previous, got here to Austria from Syria in 2020 and was later given asylum, in accordance with the inside ministry.
The assault comes days after an Afghan citizen, who got here to Germany as a baby refugee, drove a automobile right into a crowd of individuals at a union march in Munich, 150 miles from Villach, killing two folks and wounding practically 40.
In July, the singer Taylor Swift was compelled to cancel three live shows in Vienna, Austria’s capital, after the authorities realized of a plan to assault the venue by two youngsters who had grow to be radicalized Islamists on-line. Neither was a refugee.
Austria’s far-right Freedom Get together has profited from fears of foreigners, particularly younger male asylum seekers. Campaigning on a slogan of “Fortress Austria,” the get together got here in first in elections final 12 months, with 29 p.c of the vote. Final week it gave up its quest to kind a governing coalition in Austria’s present Parliament, however its reputation continues to rise, in accordance with polls.
The assault in Villach, a quaint metropolis within the south close to the Italian and Slovenian borders, occurred round 4 p.m. on Saturday on town’s previous city sq., the place a person began stabbing random folks with a folding knife, the police in Villach mentioned.
Within the seven minutes between when the police bought the primary name and the time he was apprehended, the person killed a 14-year-old and wounded 5 different folks, they mentioned.
The assault was ultimately stopped by a 42-year-old Syrian citizen who noticed the violence unfolding, in accordance with the authorities.
“A witness noticed the occasion and determined to intervene — he rammed the perpetrator together with his automobile and thus most likely prevented worse issues from occurring,” mentioned Michaela Kohlweiss, the state police director who’s in command of the investigation.
Two officers have been capable of restrain after which arrest the suspect instantly afterward.
On Thursday, the police briefly believed that there was a second assailant concerned and introduced in further forces, the Austrian equal of S.W.A.T. groups and two helicopters. However the authorities now consider the suspect acted alone.
The police mentioned on Sunday the suspect didn’t have a police report and had not been monitored by home intelligence.
When officers searched his residence, nonetheless, they discovered clear proof of “Islamist thought” and Islamic State flags hanging on the partitions, they mentioned, however no weapons or explosives.
The police mentioned that they have been nonetheless investigating the suspect’s background and motivation, and that it appeared he had grow to be radicalized on-line in a really brief interval.
Peter Kaiser, Carinthia’s center-left governor, referred to as for the “harshest penalties” for the attacker, saying on social media that the perpetrator “should be placed on trial, imprisoned, and deported.” Herbert Kickl, the firebrand chief of the Freedom Get together, referred to as the assault a “system failure of the primary order.”
Town’s mayor, Günther Albel, wrote on social media: “To all those that sow hatred and violence, I say: You’ll not win.”
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians sought refuge in Europe, together with in Austria, after a well-liked rebellion in opposition to the nation’s autocratic longtime chief, Bashar al-Assad, that started in 2011 and changed into a civil struggle. The massive variety of arrivals has strained social security nets in Europe and stirred concern about assimilation, which has at instances taken an overtly xenophobic kind and supplied a gap for right-wing, nationalist political actions.
The collapse of the Assad regime in December prompted a number of European nations to pause authorized proceedings on asylum standing for Syrians. Austria has mentioned it plans to deport Syrians whose claims for asylum fail.
Violence is comparatively unusual in Austria, which was ranked because the fifth-safest nation on this planet as of 2023, in accordance with the World Peace Index.
