Austria knife attack suspect ‘had connections to Islamic State’
The suspect in a knife attack in Austria in which a 14-year-old boy was killed and five others injured was an “Islamist extremist attacker” who “had connections to Islamic State”, investigators have said.
Witnesses said the 23-year-old Syrian asylum seeker shouted “Allahu Akbar” after the attack in the town of Villach on Saturday, in which he used a flick-knife with a 10in blade.
The suspect “radicalised himself on the internet in a short time”, Gerhard Karner, the interior minister, said at a press conference.
Police said the man, who is being charged with murder and attempted murder, had recorded himself swearing an oath of allegiance to the IS terror group.
A photo taken after the attack showed the suspect grinning and showing a single raised finger, a symbol of IS, which has launched multiple attacks in Germany and Austria in recent years.
Police found “clear indications of a radical Islamist ideology” such as an IS flag on his wall. No weapons were found, and accomplices will be investigated.
Mr Kerner promised that Austria would “lock up and deport” the suspect and launch “mass investigations” because “the police had not been aware of the suspect”.
“There’s compassion, there’s sadness, but in these moments there’s also understandably often anger and rage – anger at an Islamist attacker who randomly stabbed innocent people here in this town” he told reporters.
The attack was stopped by Allaaeddin Alhalabi, a food delivery driver, who is also Syrian. Mr Alhalabi drove his car into the attacker, enabling police to arrest him. “At that moment I didn’t think twice. I just drove onto him to stop him” said the 42-year-old.
“Of course I am worried that people think badly of us, but we are not like that. He is just one of thousands of Syrians in Austria.”
Peter Kaiser, the state governor, called on people to “stand together” and said: “This shows how close evil, terrorism, humanity and good can be”.
Herbert Kickl, the Austrian far-Right leader whose Freedom Party topped September’s national elections for the first time, said he was “appalled” by the attack, calling for “a rigorous clampdown on asylum”.
This week, the party failed in talks to form a government with the incumbent conservatives because of disagreements including one over who would hold cabinet posts dealing with security.
Austria has a Syrian refugee population of almost 100,000. After Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December, Austria and several European countries froze pending asylum requests from Syrians to reassess the situation.
In addition, Austria has stopped family reunifications and sent out at least 2,400 letters to revoke refugee status. The interior ministry has said it is preparing “an orderly repatriation and deportation programme to Syria”.
Meanwhile in Munich, Germany, a two-year-old girl Hafsa and her 37-year-old mother identified only as Amel died of their injuries after an Afghan national drove into a trade union march, Bavarian authorities reported.
Investigators have assumed an Islamist extremist motive, with Farhad Noori, the suspect, reportedly getting on the floor and praying during a police interrogation.
The Afghan national and bodybuilder, who worked as a security guard, drove around police and sped his Mini Cooper into the crowd at 30 miles per hour. Noori was being treated for hallucinations.
“We would like to emphasise that death and loss are not used to stir up hatred and instrumentalise it politically,” the victim’s family said in a statement to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
