23-year-old man stabs six people, killing one in Austria, police say

A 14-year-old child was killed and four others were injured after in a random stabbing attack in the city of Villach in southern Austria on Saturday.

Police say the attacker – a 23-year-old man – is a Syrian national with legal residence in Austria. The attacker randomly started stabbing passerby on the street, according to the police.

Authorities are currently investigating the attacker’s personal background and are looking for clues to identify a motive behind the tragic incident.

The victims were all men, a 14-year-old boy who was killed and four other men who were injured, two of them sustained minor injuries while the other two suffered critical wounds.

The attack happened in the Austrian province of Carinthia. Governor Peter Kaiser expressed his condolences to the family of the 14-year-old victim.

“This outrageous atrocity must be met with harsh consequences. I have always said with clarity and unambiguously: Those who live in Carinthia, in Austria, have to respect the law and adjust to our rules and values,” said Governor Kaiser.

Austria’s far-right leader Herbert Kickl took to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to express his condolences to the family and underline what he believes is a pressing issue challenging Austrian society, immigration.

“I am angry, angry at those politicians who have allowed stabbings, rape, gang wars and other capital crimes to become the order of the day in Austria. This is a first-class failure of the system, for which a young man in Villach has now had to pay with his life”, said Kickl in a post on his party’s official page.

“We have described the complete change of system in our program for a "Fortress Austria". We need rigorous action in the area of ​​asylum and must not continue to