A Syrian asylum seeker suspected of killing a teen and injuring five others in a stabbing attack was inspired by Islamic State, Austrian authorities have said.
A 14-year-old boy was killed in the main square of the southern Austrian city of Villach on Saturday afternoon, before the attacker was mowed down by a food delivery driver - who was also Syrian.
Police spokesperson Rainer Dionisio told The Independent the attacker had acted with an Islamist motivation. Isis flags were found during a search of the 23-year-old suspect’s house, after which authorities revealed he had sworn allegiance to Islamic State after being radicalised online.
The suspect, who had legal residence in Austria, was detained at the scene seven minutes after police were called. Five people between 15 and 36 years old had been wounded, three of whom remained in intensive care as of Sunday.
Austrian interior minister Gerhard Karner said on Sunday the perpetrator was a suspected Islamist who had been radicalised online. “This was an Islamist attack with ties to Isis,” he told reporters. “According to investigations, the attacker radicalized himself online in a short period.”
The suspect, who has been charged with murder and attempted murder, was not previously known to Austrian police.
Mr Karner said he felt “anger about an Islamist attacker who indiscriminately stabbed innocent people here in this city”. The governor of Carinthia, Peter Kaiser, said it was the “first Isis terror attack here in Villach”.
Victims of the attack, which include five Austrians and one Turkish national, are not believed to have been specifically targeted. Mr Dionisio said on Saturday a man had “randomly attacked passers-by with a knife”.
The incident happened just before 4pm local time in the centre of the city in southern Austria.
A “heroic” 42-year-old Syrian food delivery driver played a “crucial role” in helping police arrest the attacker. After witnessing the attack taking place, he rammed the man to the ground with his car.
Speaking to Austrian media outlet Krone, the driver Alaaeddin Alhalabi said: “I didn't think twice and drove at him. It threw him a few metres away, then he remained lying on the ground.
“He wanted to go towards the city centre, there were children on the street - I couldn't allow that. I have children myself. If I had been faster, the 14-year-old might not have been dead.”
State governor Peter Kaiser said the man's intervention “shows how closely terrorist evil but also human good can be united in one and the same nationality”.
Police are still working to find out whether the suspect acted alone, and police are searching for other potential suspects.
As mourners paid their respects, a national debate has erupted on security and immigration.
Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which won September’s parliamentary election, last week said it was unable to form a coalition government. But the party quickly seized on the attack, pledging increased deportations to countries such as Syria and Afghanistan - countries which Austria cannot legally deport people to.
"No migrant would be able to commit murder or any other crime in our country if they were not in Austria in the first place," FPO leader Herbert Kickl said in a statement posted on social media.
"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.”
Centrist parties are now looking at forming a government as the president considers options including a snap election.
Conservative Party leader Christian Stocker said on X 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 on X that "the full force of the law" must be used, adding: “Crimes like this one simply should not happen in our society.”
Peter Kaiser, the governor of the Austrian province of Carinthia, expressed his condolences to the family of the 14-year-old victim.
He said: “This outrageous atrocity must be met with harsh consequences. I have always said with clarity and unambiguously: Those who live in Carinthia, in Austria, have to respect the law and adjust to our rules and values."
The Free Syrian Community of Austria distanced itself from the attack, saying that Syrians fled their homeland because they were no longer safe, and are “grateful to have found asylum and protection in Austria”.
The statement added: “Anyone who causes strife and disturbs the peace of society does not represent the Syrians who have sought and received protection here.”
Villach is known for its carnival and is in an area that is a tourist hotspot in the summer as it includes one of Austria’s most famous lakes.
“I have been in the [Carinthian police] press service for 20 years and cannot recall such an act,” Mr Dionisio told ORF.
