Suspect in deadly attack in Austria had 'Islamic extremist motives,' authorities say

2025-02-16 14:05:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Suspect in deadly attack in Austria had 'Islamic extremist motives,'

Austrian authorities said on Sunday that the man suspected of killing a 14-year-old boy and wounding five other people a day earlier was motivated by "Islamic terrorism."

The suspect, a 23-year-old Syrian, was arrested after carrying out the stabbing attack in broad daylight in the southern town of Fillak.

Austria's Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said on Sunday that he felt "anger towards the Islamist attacker who stabbed innocent people here, in this city."

Karner told reporters in Fillak that the attacker had links to the Islamic State group and had been radicalized online in a very short time.

The state's governor, Peter Kaiser, thanked a 42-year-old man, who is also Syrian, for preventing the situation from escalating after he stopped the suspect during the attack.

"This shows how closely terrorist evil and human goodness can come together within the same nationality," he said.

This is the second deadly jihadist attack in Austria in recent years. In November 2020, a man who had previously attempted to join the Islamic State group carried out a bloody attack in Vienna armed with an automatic rifle and a fake explosive vest, killing four people before being shot dead by police.

Austria's President, Alexander Van der Bellen, called Saturday's attack "terrible."

"No words can undo the suffering, the horror and the fear. Our condolences go out to the family of the deceased victim and to the families of the injured," he wrote on X.

The Free Syrian Community in Austria distanced itself from the attack and expressed condolences to the families of the victims.

"All of us were forced to leave Syria, our country, because we were no longer safe there - no one left their country willingly. We are grateful to have found shelter and protection in Austria," the community said in a statement on Facebook.

"We want to emphasize: Anyone who causes division and disrupts the peace of society does not represent the Syrians who have sought and found protection here," the statement continued.

Fillak, a popular tourist town near the borders with Italy and Slovenia, is known for its peaceful atmosphere, which combines Mediterranean and Alpine traditions./REL