Officials said one teenager died and another man attacked them with a knife and was injured in Villach, Austria. The suspect has been linked to the attack. It is not clear whether he knows the victim.
The attack occurred around 4 p.m. local time, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, Mayor Villach. Police told the Associated Press that the two were seriously injured.
Local police officials said in an interview with Austrian public broadcaster Orf that the suspect was a 23-year-old Syrian man with legal residence in Austria. He didn’t know if he lived in villach. The motive is also unknown, but the police are investigating the suspect’s background.
Carinthia Governor Peter Kaiser called on attackers to have “the worst consequences” in an article on X, saying the perpetrators “must be “trial, imprisoned and deported.” The city city “For all those who sow hatred and violence, I said: You won’t win.” ”
Several similar attacks have taken place in neighboring Germany in recent months, including a car attack in Munich last week, pushing immigration to the forefront of the country’s national election campaign.
Millions of Syrians seek asylum in Europe after a widespread uprising by Bashar al-Assad, a long-time leader who opposed the country’s dictatorship, which began in 2011. Large-scale immigration created a tense social safety net in Europe and attracted attention to assimilation, which is sometimes openly adopted in the form of xenophobia and provides openness to right-wing nationalist political movements.
The collapse of the Assad regime in December prompted several European countries to cease legal proceedings regarding Syrian asylum status. Austria said it failed to deport Syrians assassin claims.
According to the Global Peace Index, violence is relatively rare in Austria, as of 2023.
