23-year-old man stabs six people, killing one in Austria, police say
A 14-year-old child was killed and four others were injured after in a random stabbing attack in the city of Villach in southern Austria on Saturday.
Police say the attacker – a 23-year-old man – is a Syrian national with legal residence in Austria. The attacker randomly started stabbing passerby on the street, according to the police.
Authorities are currently investigating the attacker's personal background and are looking for clues to identify a motive behind the tragic incident.
The victims were all men, a 14-year-old boy who was killed and four other men who were injured, two of them sustained minor injuries while the other two suffered critical wounds.
The attack happened in the Austrian province of Carinthia. Governor Peter Kaiser expressed his condolences to the family of the 14-year-old victim.
'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,' said Governor Kaiser.
Austria's far-right leader Herbert Kickl took to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to express his condolences to the family and underline what he believes is a pressing issue challenging Austrian society, immigration.
'I am angry, angry at those politicians who have allowed stabbings, rape, 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', said Kickl in a post on his party's official page.
'We have described the complete change of system in our program for a "Fortress Austria". We need rigorous action in the area of asylum and must not continue to import conditions like those in Villach,' added Kickl.
Conservative party leader Christian Stocker said on X that the attacker 'must be brought to justice and be punished with the full force of the law'.
Stocker says that more political measures must be taken to avoid such horrific acts in the future and ensure a safe Austria.
Austria's foreign ministry says almost 25,000 foreigners applied for asylum in 2024, with the largest group coming from Syria, followed by Afghanistan.
Asylum applications have dramatically decreased over the past two years. In 2022, Austria received just over 100,000 applications.
Several European countries, Austria among them, said in December that they're suspending decisions on asylum claims by Syrian nationals because of the unclear political situation in their homeland following the toppling of longtime president Bashar al-Assad in December.
The issue of migration has taken centre stage across many European countries, leading to a rise in popularity of far-right parties, who've made significant inroads in elections.
In Austria, migration was a prominent topic leading up to last year's election, which resulted in the far-right Freedom Party security it first national election victory since World War II.
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