By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
VIENNA/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Austria was in shock Monday after more details emerged about a Syrian asylum seeker suspected of carrying out a deadly stabbing rampage in the Austrian town of Villach that killed a child and injured five others.
Authorities said the attacker had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, and was radicalized online.
He eventually decided to carry out an attack Saturday when he killed a 14-year-old boy in the center of Villach and wounded five other people, three of whom are in intensive care, police said.
On Sunday, officials confirmed the ages of those who were injured: Two 15-year-olds, with the other victims aged 28, 32, and 36. They said five of them are Austrian nationals, and one is Turkish.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told reporters in Villach that the 23-year-old Syrian man, who was arrested seven minutes after the first call to the police, had been rapidly radicalized on the internet and that the Islamic State flag had been found in his apartment.
“So those in a position of responsibility, the police, the authorities, must draw the necessary conclusions from that,” he added.
Karner said the suspect had a valid residence permit and no criminal record and had not previously attracted the attention of authorities.
Authorities previously announced that the suspect had a temporary residence permit and was waiting for a decision on his asylum application.
The attack was due to fuel debate about an influx of migrants from mainly Muslim nations into Europe amid concerns about Islamist extremists.
Hungary, Austria’s most outspoken anti-migration neighbor, has placed a massive security fence near its border with Serbia from where many migrants fleeing war, persecution, and poverty have come.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest Stories from Worthy News
Iran and the United States held a second round of nuclear talks Saturday in Rome, where both sides agreed to begin drafting a potential deal. Iran’s foreign minister confirmed the move, while a U.S. official reported “very good progress.”
In a forceful Saturday night address following Hamas’s rejection of the latest hostage deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “I will not surrender to murderers.”
The U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting some Venezuelans in the country who’ve been identified as members of violent gangs, including the terrorist organization, Tren de Aragua.
Easter Sunday remained far from peaceful in Ukraine as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia intensified shelling and the use of drones. The reported attacks came despite Moscow’s announcement of an Easter ceasefire.
As Easter approached, there was some hope for hundreds of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war and scores of injured soldiers, with officials saying they were being exchanged on Saturday. It also came after U.S. Vice President JD Vance cautiously expressed optimism about an end to the more than three-year war following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.