Austrian authorities mentioned Sunday the stabbing of six people who left a 14-yr-previous boy useless was carried out by a person with potential connections to the Islamic State group who appeared to have acted alone.
The suspect, a 23-yr-previous Syrian, was arrested after the assault, which happened on Saturday afternoon within the heart of the southern metropolis of Villach, near the primary sq.. Police mentioned he used a folding knife. These wounded had been two 15-yr-previous boys and males aged 28, 32 and 36. Two had been severely wounded and two others are additionally nonetheless receiving hospital remedy, whereas one was handled for minor accidents.
“That is an Islamist assault with an IS connection by an attacker who radicalized himself inside a really quick time through the web,” Inside Minister Gerhard Karner informed reporters in Villach Sunday.
State Gov. Peter Kaiser thanked a 42-yr-previous man, additionally a Syrian, working for a meals supply firm who drove towards the suspect and helped stop the state of affairs from getting worse. “This exhibits how intently terrorist evil but additionally human good might be united in a single and the identical nationality,” he mentioned.
As the main target shifted to migration and asylum-seekers, Karner mentioned that it’s going to finally be essential to “perform a mass screening with out trigger, as a result of this murderer was not conspicuous.”
He didn’t elaborate on his plans. It was unclear how lengthy the suspect had been in Austria, though authorities mentioned he had a residence allow.
Migration entrance and heart in Austrian politics
Austria’s far-proper chief Herbert Kickl, whose celebration received a nationwide election 4 months in the past, referred to as for “a rigorous crackdown on asylum” within the wake of the assault.
On Sunday, Kickl mentioned that since all different events in Austria had didn’t implement the required asylum restrictions, it’s essential for his celebration to regulate the Inside Ministry — which is accountable for asylum and migration — in any future authorities.
Final week, coalition talks in Austria collapsed for a second time when Kickl’s Freedom Celebration and the conservative Folks’s Celebration had been unable to agree on who would oversee the Inside Ministry.
Migration was a outstanding subject main as much as the election, which resulted in Kickl’s celebration securing its first nationwide election victory since World Conflict II. The subject has taken heart stage in lots of European nations, with far-proper events making inroads in elections.
On Saturday, police in neighboring Germany mentioned a 2-yr-previous lady and her mom died two days after being injured in a automotive-ramming assault throughout a labor union demonstration in Munich. It marked the fifth assault involving immigrants in Germany over the previous 9 months, with migration changing into a big subject forward of upcoming elections on Feb. 23.
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The mayor of Villach, Günther Albel, mentioned the assault was a “stab within the coronary heart of the town.”
State police director Michaela Kohlweiss mentioned
“The present image is that of a lone perpetrator,” Kohlweiss mentioned. Police presence will probably be elevated within the streets of Villach and at occasions within the weeks forward, Kohlweiss added.
A second lethal assault in Austria
The Villach assault marks the second lethal extremist assault in Austria in recent times. In November 2020, a person who had beforehand tried to hitch the Islamic State group carried out a rampage in Vienna, armed with an computerized rifle and a faux explosive vest, killing 4 individuals earlier than being fatally shot by police.
Final August, authorities foiled an assault on Taylor Swift exhibits in Vienna that was impressed by the Islamic State group.
The Islamic Spiritual Group in Austria expressed sympathies to the victims and their households in a press release on Sunday and mentioned that it’s “absolutely dedicated to peaceable and respectful coexistence.” The President of the Islamic Spiritual Group, Ümit Vural, added that the assault “has nothing in widespread with the true values of our religion.”
Residents started putting candles on the web site of the assault within the metropolis of about 60,000 inhabitants. A bunch of younger individuals who knew the boy who died in assault gathered on the crime scene on Sunday morning to mourn and tearfully gentle candles, native media reported.
President Alexander Van der Bellen referred to as the assault “horrific.”
“No phrases can undo the struggling, the horror, the concern. My ideas are with the household of the deceased sufferer and the injured,” he posted on X.
The Free Syrian Group of Austria issued a press release on Fb distancing itself from the assault and expressing its deepest condolences to the victims’ households. “All of us had to flee Syria, our house nation, as a result of we had been now not secure there — nobody left their nation voluntarily. We’re grateful to have discovered asylum and safety in Austria,” the affiliation mentioned.
Calls to strengthen migration guidelines
Kickl wrote on X Saturday that he’s “appalled by the horrific act in Villach.”
“On the identical time, I’m offended — offended at these politicians who’ve allowed stabbings, rapes, gang wars and different capital crimes to grow to be the order of the day in Austria. It is a first-class failure of the system, for which a younger man in Villach has now had to pay together with his life,” Kickl mentioned.
In accordance with the Inside Ministry, 24,941 foreigners utilized for asylum in Austria in 2024. The biggest group of candidates was from Syria, adopted by Afghanistan.
Over the previous two years, the variety of asylum seekers has decreased considerably. In 2022, purposes peaked at over 100,000, whereas roughly 59,000 people sought asylum in 2023.
Conservative celebration chief Christian Stocker mentioned on X that the attacker “have to be delivered to justice and be punished with the total drive of the legislation.”
The chief of the Social Democrats, Andreas Babler, mentioned, “Crimes like this one merely mustn’t occur in our society.”
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