Suspect of Austria stabbing that killed 1 and injured 6 had an ‘Islamic terror motive’

A 23-year-old man stabbed five passersby in southern Austria on Saturday in what police said was a random attack that left a 14-year-old dead and four others injured.

VIENNA — Austrian authorities say they have classified the deadly stabbing attack in a southern city as an “Islamic terror incident.”

The suspect, a 23-year-old Syrian man, stabbed six passersby in broad daylight in Villach on Saturday, killing a 14-year-old boy and wounding five others. He was arrested after the attack.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said Sunday he felt “anger about an Islamist attacker who indiscriminately stabbed innocent people here in this city.”

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

Three of the people attacked were in intensive care on Sunday as the political fallout from the attack continued to spread.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/23-year-old-man-stabbed-5-people-austria-killing-1-rcna192358

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