Austria: Syrian stabs passersby in Villach, killing one, police say

ZURICH: A 23-year-old Syrian asylum seeker stabbed several passersby in the centre of the tourist town of Villach, Austria on Saturday, killing a 14-year old boy and injuring four other people, police said, adding that the suspected attacker had been arrested.

Further details, such as whether the attacker knew any of the victims, remained unclear, a spokesperson for the police in the southern state of Carinthia, Rainer Dionisio, said. The injured were aged between 14 and 32, he added.

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Such attacks are extremely rare in Austria. A militant killed four people in Vienna in a shooting rampage in 2020 that was the country’s deadliest assault in decades.

Villach is known for its carnival and is in an area that is a tourist hotspot in the summer as it includes one of most famous lakes in Austria but otherwise attracts little attention.

“I have been in the (Carinthian police) press service for 20 years and cannot recall such an act,” Dionisio told national broadcaster ORF.

A man whom Austrian media described as a food delivery driver from Syria charged into the attacker with his car and prevented him from harming more people, Dionisio said.

The attack comes at a time of political upheaval in Austria as the far-right Freedom Party, which came first in September’s parliamentary election, said on Wednesday it had failed to form a coalition government. The president is now considering whether an alternative to a snap election is available.

Railing against illegal immigration and pledging to increase deportations to countries like Syria and Afghanistan, which it is currently illegal to deport people to, are central to the Freedom Party’s platform and appeal, and the party quickly seized on the Villach attack.

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“We need a rigorous crackdown on asylum and cannot continue to import conditions like those in Villach,” Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl said in a statement.