Austrian knife attack suspect was radicalised on TikTok, officials say
Summary
Companies
Suspected Islamist attacker is 23-year-old Syrian refugee
Has admitted carrying out attack, prosecutors' office says
Was exposed to IS ideology by watching social media videos
Spent four days in German custody in 2024, ministry says
VIENNA, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The 23-year-old Syrian refugee believed to have killed a teenager and injured five other people in a weekend stabbing rampage in the Austrian town of Villach became radicalised quickly by using TikTok, officials said on Monday.
The suspect, identified as Ahmad G., had the flag of the Islamic State militant group in his apartment but had not previously attracted Austrian authorities' attention. The case highlights the challenge of preventing so-called lone wolf attacks, when an attacker acts alone without outside help.
His online radicalisation draws further attention to social media platforms like TikTok that can offer users a large amount of content on subjects of interest, which some experts say can accelerate their immersion in them.
"He radicalised himself within three months," a spokesman for prosecutors in the nearby city of Klagenfurt, where the investigation is being handled, told Reuters.
"Not through any other person, personal contact either online or in person. Evidently, he really just consumed videos and decided to commit this act. There was no other person who said 'Do it!'" he said. "He himself confirms it and says he watched videos and then decided he wanted to join IS."
TikTok, in a 2022 post on its website, opens new tab, said it was committed to finding solutions and working with "civil society on combating violent extremism".
The attack came just days after a 24-year-old Afghan drove into a crowd in Munich in neighbouring Germany, killing two people and injuring dozens. Munich lead prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann said there appeared to be an Islamist motivation.
Police said the Villach suspect used a flip knife for the attack and recorded himself swearing allegiance to Islamic State, adding that his aim was to be shot dead by police. Instead, he was arrested within minutes after another Syrian helped to stop him.
A picture of the suspect was widely circulated, showing him sitting in the street appearing to smile as a police officer faced him just moments after the attack.
The suspect is believed to have arrived in Austria in 2019, the prosecutors' office spokesman said, and wanted to travel on to Germany with fake identification so that German authorities would not turn him away as an asylum applicant for having already been in a safe third country, Austria.
A spokesman for Austria's Interior Ministry said the suspect spent four days in custody in Germany in May last year for being unable to pay a fine for falsifying a document, but did not say what kind of document it was.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Terrified woman slams disgusting act on the 'worst street in Melbourne'
A young woman has recalled the terrifying moment an elderly man exposed himself to her on Chapel Street as she shopped for a wedding dress. The bride-to-be was on the busy street - regarded as the city's most upmarket destinations for fashion - when the 'worst thing ever' happened last month. She was heading back to her car when a man approached her, undid his pants and exposed himself while she was waiting to cross the road. 'Today, I went to Chapel Street for the first time in a really long time and it has become so scary down there,' she said in a TikTok following the incident. 'I had to cross the road and I pressed on the traffic lights. It felt really eerie so I took a step back and put my back towards a shop front and I made a conscious effort to not be on my phone so I could like look at the surroundings. 'I am so glad I did because as I was waiting, about maybe two or three metres from me, a man stopped. He started playing with his fly... He then proceeded to undo his belt, his pants and I'm sure you can imagine what happened next.' The woman said she 'freaked out' and ran into a nearby shop for safety, with two workers quickly locking the door behind her. She waited for the man to leave before going straight to her car and driving home. The woman called police once she got home and provided them with specific details of what the man looked like and when and where the incident took place. She said the officer she spoke to asked her to come to the station to write a statement, which she was happy to do. But, the woman said she became uneasy when she learned her full name would have to be included in the official report. 'I asked if this man was going to know my details because I have to put all of that in the statement, they said 'yes, he will be provided with your name and everything',' she continued in the TikTok. The woman told police she did not want to provide her name but still wanted to report the incident to ensure it didn't happen to anyone else. She asked if officers could look up the CCTV in the area as she had provided specific details of the location but claims police simply said 'no'. 'They can't go looking into things unless I put my name to it, which will then go to this freak. They won't do anything,' the woman said. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Victoria Police about the incident. Social media users praised the woman for sharing her experience. One woman, who worked near Chapel Street claimed to know the man and said he had behaved in the same way to 'a lot of young women'. 'Same thing happened when my coworker was attacked at work, they wouldn't do anything because they wouldn't give their personal details even with CCTV footage from the street and our workplace,' she wrote. 'Why are they giving out private information to the offender? Sounds like the cop didn't want to assist & knew you would back down,' another wrote. A third chimed: 'And this, this is how women are not protected in the slightest. This is how women get hurt. I had a similar situation'. Others encouraged the woman to report the incident anonymously via Crime Stoppers. 'Your name goes into the report but it doesn't go to the man! Call the cop shop and speak to someone different,' one person wrote.
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
TikTok star Khaby Lame returns to social media after self-deporting for violating immigration rules
Khaby Lame has reemerged online after being kicked out of United States under President Donald Trump 's newly intensified deportation drive. In his latest Instagram Stories, Lame appeared calm and composed, strolling down a leafy street in Italy. Another frame showed him smiling alongside Brazilian soccer star Emerson Royal, who plays for AC Milan and the Brazilian national team. The images follow days of uproar after Lame, born in Senegal but raised in Chivasso, Italy, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at Las Vegas 's Harry Reid International Airport on June 6. ICE claims he overstayed his visa after entering the country on April 30. He was granted 'voluntary departure', a bureaucratic euphemism for being kicked out. 'Seringe Khabane Lame, 25, a citizen of Italy, was detained… for immigration violations,' ICE confirmed in a statement. 'Lame was granted voluntary departure… and has since departed the US.' Since reclaiming the presidency in January, Donald Trump has made good on campaign vows to execute mass deportations and resurrect the muscular ICE machine that defined his first term. His crackdown has swept up thousands, from undocumented workers to high-profile public figures, and even it now appears, the most-watched man on TikTok. The move drew backlash from civil liberties groups and social media users alike, many of whom questioned why a beloved Italian citizen with 162.2 million TikTok followers and brand deals with the likes of Doritos, Boss, and Binance would be treated like a national security threat. The deportation was first revealed by conservative influencer Bo Loudon, who claimed to have reported Lame and posted what he said was a screenshot from ICE's website indicating that the TikToker was being held at Henderson Detention Center in Nevada near Las Vegas. Last month, Twitch streamer Hasan Piker - better known as HasanAbi - claimed he was detained at Chicago's O'Hare Airport and interrogated by ICE agents about his political views on Trump and Hamas. His 40-minute video describing the ordeal has since racked up millions of views. In Lame's case, the optics could not have been worse. Last month he attended the prestigious Met Gala in New York, rubbing shoulders with Rihanna, Diana Ross, and fashion elite. He wore a bespoke gray zoot suit that landed him on multiple best-dressed lists. Born in Senegal and raised in public housing near Turin, Lame became famous during the pandemic after losing his job as a factory worker. Conservative influencer Bo Loudon claimed to have reported Lame's detention on June 6 and posted an alleged screenshot from the ICE website stating he was at Henderson Detention Center in Nevada (Lame's name does no longer appears in the ICE detainee database) He began posting wordless TikTok reactions that mocked the absurdity of overcomplicated 'life hack' videos offering instead a simple solution and a signature shrug. By 2022, he had surpassed Charli D'Amelio as the most-followed person on TikTok. Brands came calling with UNICEF naming him as a goodwill ambassador. He walked the runway at Milan Fashion Week and built his empire on facial expressions rather than flashy speeches. In 2022, Italy formally granted Lame citizenship after a national outcry over the delay. He celebrated the moment as a victory for immigrants like himself who grow up Italian but are often excluded by bureaucracy 'Public housing is a place to which I owe everything,' he once told an interviewer.
Scottish Sun
8 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Russia using horror AI kamikaze drone that ‘chooses its own target' as Ukraine now faces blitz of over ‘500 every night'
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) VLADIMIR Putin has begun deploying kamikaze drones that select their own targets using AI in a fresh assault on Ukraine. The country now faces over 500 attacks every night, just days after Kharkiv was rocked overnight by a downpour of missiles. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 Fire and smoke rise in Ukraine following a Russian drone and missile strike Credit: Reuters 5 Kyiv is seen engulfed in flames following a Russian drone attack Credit: Reuters 5 Reports said the UAV-V2U is being used to close in on the northeastern city of Sumy, while Putin ramps up drone production and builds new launch sites. Some 70 units a day are now being made compared to just 21 last year, according to Ukraine's military intelligence. This is largely thanks to help from China, the agency has said, as the UAV is "mostly assembled from Chinese-manufactured components." Beijing has repeatedly denied supplying drones or weapon components to Russia, whilst Trump and Biden have both hit China with sanctions to stop it getting access to computer chips. Marking a new escalation in the war, the drones use camera images to navigate and AI to independently locate targets. The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine said: "The key feature of the drone is its ability to autonomously search for and select targets using artificial intelligence. "Its computing system is based on the Chinese Leetop A203 minicomputer, with a high-speed processor assembly built on the NVIDIA Jetson Orin module." This comes just hours after drones and missiles were launched at Kyiv as Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bombers were reportedly unleashed to rain hell on the infamous Snake Island in the Black Sea. Moscow launched a massive strike on Rivne using its Tu-22M3 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers to hit Dubny airbase. Squadrons of these fighter jets were targeted and destroyed last week in Kyiv's daring Operation Spiderweb. Russia bombs Kyiv killing 4 in blitz as Putin plots revenge for Op Spiderweb Another key Ukrainian military airport - Hostomel - was also attacked as Putin sought revenge for the humiliating attack. Polish armed forces command said Nato fighter jets were patrolling due to 'intensive air attack by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory'. Just days ago, Kharkiv was rocked overnight as 48 kamikaze drones, along with missiles and guided bombs, slammed into residential areas, according to the city's mayor. 'We have a lot of damage,' Ihor Terekhov said. More than 50 explosions rocked Kharkiv, with the mayor adding it was 'the most powerful attack' on the city of the 39-month war. In the latest terror strikes on civilians, 18 multi-story buildings and 13 private houses were hit and damaged. In Kyiv, a dramatic tower block video filmed by a resident showed the terror of another Putin strike on civilians as flames from the exploding drone shot some 80ft up the building. Three were killed and at least 21 wounded, including a six-weeks-old baby, and a 14-year-old girl. A woman, 26, trapped under a slab of concrete was eventually freed three hours after the strike, and was seen being stretchered to an ambulance. Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha described how hundreds of drones and missiles "rained down" on his country overnight. He wrote in a social media post: "Kharkiv had a particularly terrible night. "People were injured and killed, and the energy infrastructure was also damaged." Sybiha added there were further strikes in the Donetsk, Dnipro, Ternopil and Odesa regions. 5 The Kursk region after being struck by a Russian drone attack Credit: Reuters
