Plans for bomb attack found in Austrian school shooting suspect's home
Vienna
Discarded plans for a bomb attack were found at the home of the suspected perpetrator of a deadly school shooting rampage in the Austrian city of Graz, police said on Wednesday.
Police also found a non-functioning pipe bomb during a search of the home of the 21-year-old, who had previously attended the school but not graduated. The suspect opened fire before taking his own life in a bathroom, leaving a total of 11 people dead, most of them teens, police said.
The gunman used two legally owned weapons to carry out the mass attack, according to Austrian authorities.
His motive is not yet known. According to the police, a farewell letter and video from the attacker contained no clues.
Reports that he had been bullied have not yet been confirmed by the authorities.
The young man had been a student at the high school until two years ago and had repeated a school year several times, Franz Ruf, a senior official at the Interior Ministry, told radio station Ö1. Police said he lived with his mother.
Due to the risk of copycat crimes the police have now stepped up security at schools in Austria. In addition, around 400 special forces across the country are on high alert, according to reports.
Officials also updated their information on the victims of the shooting. According to the latest reports, six girls and three boys aged between 14 and 17 died at the scene. Police had initially reported that the victims were aged between 15 and 17.
A seriously injured teacher died in hospital from her injuries. One of the dead was a Polish national, the others were Austrian citizens.
Eleven injured people, aged between 15 and 26, are still being treated in hospital and are in stable condition, police and hospital operator Kages said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Qatar Tribune
17-07-2025
- Qatar Tribune
Death toll in Iraqi mall blaze rises to 61
dpa Baghdad A massive fire at a recently opened shopping mall in the Iraqi city of al-Kut killed 61 people including 14 unidentified charred bodies, the country's Interior Ministry said on Thursday. The blaze erupted overnight at the multi-storey hypermarket in the province of Wasit, around 170 kilometres south-east of Baghdad, trapping shoppers inside the place amid rising flames and heavy smoke, eyewitnesses said. Initially, the death toll was put at 50. In an update, the Interior Ministry said the fire had left 61 people dead, mostly due to choking when trapped inside toilets as a result of the heavy smoke. Civil defence crews were meanwhile able to rescue at least 45 others, according to the ministry. The fire had broken up at a five-storey commercial building comprising a hypermarket and a restaurant that was opened to the public just seven days before the disaster, according to the ministry. Iraq's state news agency INA, citing an unnamed medical source, reported that 63 people were killed and 40 others injured in the fire. Interior Minister Abdel-Amir al-Shammari ordered the formation of a committee to determine the causes of the blaze. The dead included women and children, Wasit Governor Mohammed Jamil al-Miyahi said earlier, according to INA. 'We will not be lenient towards those who directly or indirectly caused this incident,' he said, declaring three days of mourning in the province. Al-Miyahi added that findings of a preliminary investigation into the incident would be made public in 48 hours.
Qatar Tribune
14-07-2025
- Qatar Tribune
Spain arrests eight after far-right groups and migrants clash
Agencies TORRE PACHECO Spanish police have arrested eight people after three nights of clashes between far-right groups and North African migrants in a town in southeastern Spain, the government said on Monday. In one of Spain's worst such flare-ups of recent times, several dozen youths, some hooded, hurled glass bottles and other objects at riot police in Torre Pacheco on Sunday night, Reuters journalists saw. Police fired rubber bullets to quell the unrest. The trouble stemmed from an attack last week on a man in his late 60s that left him injured and recovering at home. The victim told LaSexta broadcaster last week that he had been on a walk in a cemetery garden when two men, speaking in a language he did not understand, ran towards him, one in an agitated state. 'He threw me to the ground and hit me. It all happened very quickly. I think they hit me and then left,' said the man, whom LaSexta and other media identified as Domingo Tomas. Authorities said they arrested two foreigners suspected of being involved in the assault though they were still looking for the main perpetrator, who had been identified. The other six - five Spaniards and one person of North African origin - were arrested for assault, public disorder, hate crimes or damage to property, the Interior Ministry said. Migrants, many of them second-generation, make up about a third of Torre Pacheco's population of about 40,000. The area around the town also hosts large numbers of migrants who work as day laborers in agriculture, one of the pillars of the economy in the Murcia region. 'I ask the migrant community not to leave their homes and not to confront rioters, because confrontation achieves nothing and ultimately makes us all afraid,' local mayor Pedro Angel Roca told national broadcaster TVE.
Qatar Tribune
24-06-2025
- Qatar Tribune
Syrian president condemns ‘despicable' church attack
dpa Damascus Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa vowed Monday to bring the perpetrators of a deadly suicide bombing to justice after an attack on a church in the capital left dozens dead and wounded. Al-Sharaa denounced the bombing as a 'despicable crime' that targeted innocent worshippers at the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in the Al-Dula district of Damascus. 'This horrific act has shaken the conscience of the entire nation,' he said, extending condolences to the families of the victims. At least 25 people were killed and 63 injured in Sunday's explosion, according to the Interior Ministry. Officials have blamed the Islamic State for the attack, raising alarms over the group's lingering threat in the country. Al-Sharaa urged Syrians to rally together, stressing the importance of national solidarity in the face of terrorism. 'This heinous act reminds us of the urgent need for unity - between the government and the people - to confront anything that threatens our country's security and stability,' he said. Though Islamic State was declared militarily defeated in Syria in 2019, its sleeper cells continue to launch sporadic attacks, exploiting security gaps in the war-torn nation. Concerns over a potential resurgence have intensified since the toppling of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in December. The attack has also renewed fears for Syria's religious minorities, particularly Christians, amid a fragile political transition. The current interim government, dominated by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, faces growing scrutiny from both domestic and international observers regarding the protection of minority rights. With the majority of Syrians identifying as Sunni Muslims, calls are mounting for the transitional leadership to ensure inclusive governance and security for all communities. Syria's Interior Ministry announced on Monday that security units, in coordination with the General Intelligence Service, have made significant progress in identifying and dismantling the responsible terrorist network. 'Following the treacherous terrorist attack, our security forces intensified their efforts - gathering intelligence, analysing evidence and establishing a joint operations room with the General Intelligence Service to cross-check and verify information,' a statement read. According to the ministry, this collaborative work led to a series of precision operations targeting terrorist cells linked to the Islamic State in the outskirts of the capital, specifically in the towns of Harasta and Kafr Batna, near Damascus.
